Daughter of the Fire Nation
by Tallin Chase
Summary: Twenty-five years after the end of the war, Zuko and Katara's daughter Kairo finds herself inadvertently caught up in a rebellion against the Fire Nation and her family. A mediocre bender and a notorious screw-up, Kairo, now Ira, accompanies an earth bender on his mission to find his family— and his revenge— in hopes that she will find her own destiny along the way.
1. Chapter 1: Incarnation of Pure Evil

**Chapter 19**

Born Lucky

Izumi rubbed his temples and let out a quiet sigh as he listened to what felt like the hundredth angry rant about the inconvenience of an interim Fire Lord that morning. When his father finally did return home, Izumi was going to request—no, _demand_ —a week's vacation on Ember Island in blissful solitude and silence.

"…and furthermore, I recognize that the Fire Lord was quite young when he assumed the throne, but circumstances necessitated such measures be taken, and while I have the utmost respect for you, Prince Izumi, I do not feel it is wise to leave a young man barely out of his studies to rule over the Fire Nation in a time of such instability and uncertainty to go gallivanting about the seas. I mean, there are rumors of rebellious uprisings, and the spirits only know what General Wei is scheming regarding the political reform of the education system as we speak…"

 _Make that two weeks_.

"I understand your concerns, Counselor, but I will remind you that my father did not take the decision to appoint me as his right-hand lightly. In placing me in this _temporary_ position," he emphasized with a meaningful look, "Fire Lord Zuko has demonstrated the utmost faith in my abilities as a leader and your abilities as advisors. I am positive that, with your wise guidance, my father's absence will pass without a hitch."

Seeing that the advisor was opening his wide, frog-like mouth to object, Izumi held up a hand and continued, "If you have any further concerns, I would be happy to pass them along to my father via messenger hawk. Unfortunately, I must call this meeting to a close. As you know, we have emissaries from the Earth Kingdom arriving shortly and we must prepare for their arrival."

Izumi rose from his seat at the head of the long, ornate table, cutting off any grumbling with the motion. He marched toward the door, flanked by disgruntled advisors, but his long legs propelled him down the corridor and out of sight long before they could think of catching up.

When he was safely out of range, he slowed and breathed a sigh of relief. His head was throbbing and his mood was grim.

Though the arriving emissaries were just an excuse to cut the meeting short, Izumi knew, in that perfect, responsible part of his mind, that he really should check in with the cooks and servant staff to ensure everything was in order.

In the more human part of his mind, Izumi knew he needed to take a breather first.

He debated for a moment, then turned on his heel and marched toward the outer gates. He was going to take a short walk, try to relieve his headache, and then return to run a nation. Temporarily.

As he walked, he let his mind wander. Izumi had been groomed his entire life for this position. His father had only a few tentative years of preparation in an abusive household before he was tossed into the throne. Having just spent a few _days_ in his shoes, Izumi shook his head at that extraordinary feat. Granted, Zuko was not an ordinary man, but Izumi could barely imagine what it must have been like for him, trying to repair a broken nation, a broken _world_ , as a _teenager_.

How could anyone live up to a legacy like that?

Try as he might, Izumi would never feel like he was worthy of the shoes he would one day fill.

These dark musings hung heavy in his mind, looming so powerfully over him that he lost track of where he was going.

"Prince Izumi."

The voice jarred him back to reality and he blinked. He was standing in front of an enormous cylindrical building, the entrance to which was patrolled by several guards. Instantly, he felt cold. He had no idea why his feet had carried him to this godforsaken place.

It was the prison that housed his aunt and grandfather. Ozai and Azula. Close relations only by blood, never proximity. He'd only seen Azula once when Zuko took him and his young sister to visit her. He didn't remember the meeting much, except that she had been intimidating and callous, with a wicked gleam in her eye that made him uneasy… like she could see through his soul.

Zuko never allowed him to meet his grandfather.

Once upon a time, Izumi was curious to meet the man… but time had robbed him of that curiosity. As an adult, he had every right to see him now, but never did. He told himself that he was avoiding Ozai not out of cowardice, but indifference.

Privately, he knew that was a lie.

Izumi stood before the guard, thinking about this in silence, until the guard shifted uncomfortably. "Did you… did you want to enter, my lord?" he asked tentatively.

 _No_ , he was prepared to say, but his mouth, like his feet, had other ideas.

"Yes," he said, and he marched inside.

A guard patrolling the corridor bowed upon seeing him, then took up a torch and escorted him down the hall. "What brings you here, my lord?" he asked, glancing sideways at him as they walked briskly through the stone passages.

Not really knowing how to tell the man that he had no idea what brought him there, he just said the first thing that came to his mind. "I'm here to check on a prisoner."

"Which one, my lord?"

Valid question.

"Azula." He said, sounding far more decisive than he really was.

The man nodded. "This way," he said, and lead Izumi toward a spiral staircase and upward.

. . .

"Well, well, what a pleasant surprise. It's not every day I'm visited by royalty…" drawled a velvety voice as Izumi stepped into a room that was divided in half by thick, steel bars.

The room was larger than Izumi remembered and had a small barred window looking out over the ocean at least 50 feet up. There was a bed with a few pillows and blankets, nothing terribly ornate, but not in the filthy, dilapidated state that Izumi had been expecting. The cell was relatively clean, with a few books resting in a neat pile in the corner of the room.

The inmate herself was dressed in a clean, red tunic that reached her knees and covered her shoulders modestly. A black belt cinched around her waist, revealing a figure that was thin, but not unhealthily so. Izumi tried to mask his surprise at how… cozy she looked, locked away in a high-security prison.

Azula was turned away from him, gazing out the window, but at his silence she pulled away and faced him, mouth quirked up in a rueful smirk.

"Hello, nephew dearest."

Izumi nodded stiffly, unsure of what to say as the door swung shut behind him. Azula needed no prompting.

"Don't stand on ceremony on my account," she said dryly, folding her arms and jerking her head to indicate a chair on his side of the barred room.

"This won't be a long visit," Izumi said as he shook his head.

"Come to check on your favorite auntie? Or have you come to make sure that your favorite prisoner is still safe and sound, wasting away in her tower?"

"You don't look to be wasting away to me," Izumi said.

She raised an eyebrow, that wicked gleam reappearing in her amber eyes. "No? Were you expecting some savage creature scratching at the walls and eating crumbs off the floor with the rats?" She laughed, a mirthless hum that sent shivers down his spine. "I see you got the ruthless streak your father always lacked."

"My father, _the Fire Lord_ , seems to be doing very well for himself without that ruthless streak," he retorted, working hard to keep his face impassive.

" _The Fire Lord_? Really? That's what you call him?" She rolled her eyes. "I guess your daddy passed on his rigid sense of duty and honor instead. How fun for you."

Izumi clenched his jaw. "I didn't come here to listen to you criticize my father."

Azula jumped on that. "Then why are you here, little Izumi?" She stalked slowly toward the bars, coming to stand directly in front of him and looking into his eyes. She was tall for a woman, having grown in prison to stand nearly as tall as he was.

Those emotionless eyes saw his split second of hesitation and lit up with delight. "You look lost, Izumi. You don't know why you're here, or what to do next, do you? You've got the weight of the world on your shoulders and you have no one to help you carry that."

He shifted his weight. The movement seemed to confirm something in her mind as she continued, "Where's daddy? Surely if you're so lost, your great and powerful Fire Lord would be the first person to make everything go away, wouldn't he?" she sneered.

Izumi said nothing.

"Unless…" her mouth spread into a small smile, "Daddy isn't home, is he? Zuzu has flown the nest and left you here, all alone, to clean up the mess. No wonder you look so down, I remember what that was like, little nephew. Not a fun job, is it?"

"I've had enough of this nonsense," Izumi announced as cold sweat ran down his spine. He spun around, heading for the door, when her voice stopped him.

"Wait!" He froze, not turning to see her. "Please," she whispered and a rare note of anxiety leaked into her voice. He did turn at that and was shocked to see her gripping the bars with white knuckles. Her face was stony, but he saw in the set of her brows that she was more upset than she wanted to let on.

She cleared her throat and loosened her grip. "If I apologize, will you stay and… and we can talk?"

Instantly, Izumi was suspicious. "I don't think it counts if the apology is bargained for."

She rolled her eyes upward to look at the ceiling. "An apology is an apology, little prince. You should be grateful and take what is offered to you."

"Why do you want me to stay so badly?" he asked softly, ignoring her. He moved closer to the bars gingerly, as though he was approaching a dangerous animal. She had betrayed a moment of weakness, one that Izumi had no problem exploiting.

Some people called him manipulative. He preferred to think of it as social navigation.

Azula pulled away from the bars and hugged her sides. "Look, it's not exactly like I'm swarmed with company up here. Even I deserve a little conversational stimulation, don't I?" She stared at him defiantly, daring him to disagree. When he didn't she continued. "Besides, I see so much of myself in you, it seems a shame to waste the opportunity to have a meaningful discussion, doesn't it?"

Shocked, Izumi took another step forward. "You see yourself in me?" The idea was not a comforting one.

She waved a hand dismissively. "Of course I do. You are the prodigy, the perfect child, the one with all the responsibility and expectations. You demand excellence and will settle for nothing less, not even in yourself. Everyone around you seems to always let you down, and the pressure of never quite being good enough is what drives you to become better, stronger, more powerful."

Without realizing it, Izumi had taken a seat after all. Azula paced slowly along the bars as she spoke.

"You were born lucky, but raised to be invincible."

Izumi's heart stopped cold at the familiarity, the truth, of the words. But still, he betrayed nothing in his expression.

"Much as you hate it, you are your sister's keeper. For me, it was my brother, the screw-up, the one who made all the messes for you to clean up. Everyone always expected Zuko to fail, but me? I always had to be perfect. And don't get me wrong, I _was_ perfect, but I didn't realize that it would come at such a cost…" she momentarily faltered, looking into his eyes as she passed in front of him.

"I made mistakes. Fatal ones. And now I am here, paying for them." She gestured at the small window. "The bigger they are…" Izumi glanced at the opening, imagining the steep drop that waited outside of it.

"Have you never tried to make amends?" Izumi asked quietly, voicing the question that had always nagged at him about his family's incarceration.

She looked away from him, striding to straighten the already-straight stack of books. "I must have used up all of my second chances," she said in a tone that was falsely indifferent. Izumi could hear the sadness underneath the casual reply, though.

"But you were just a kid when everything happened. Has my father never given you the chance to make amends as an adult? Why are you still here if you recognize you were wrong?"

She stood at that, rigid and proud. "I'm not entirely sure I was wrong," she replied. "I followed orders, just like everyone else. I followed them exceptionally well, in fact. So well that I was the first and only one to accomplish what my father sent me to do. I conquered Ba Sing Se! I don't believe that the things I did were any more or less wrong than what the rest of the fire nation army did, and they get to walk around, living their lives in freedom!" She gestured again at the window.

"You tried to kill my father," Izumi pointed out evenly.

Her shoulders drooped a little. "I was ordered to kill your father."

"And you were ready to do it, even though it was wrong?"

Her eyes flashed angrily. "Let me ask you this: What would you have done if your father commanded you to do it?"

Izumi recoiled at the idea of harming his sister. Seeing his look, Azula backtracked.

"Zuko was always the favorite of my mother, while I was the cold monster she never really loved. Don't pretend you don't know what that's like. I've seen the way your beloved _perfect_ parents treat you and your sister. They dote on her and completely overlook all the times she fails, while you are held to impossible standards and get no praise or recognition for all you sacrifice for her. That was once me, Izumi."

She approached the bars again.

"I was once there. I watched as Zuko defied my father, let the avatar escape, and betrayed the Fire Nation… yet still, at the end of the day, everyone was ready to welcome back the prodigal son. So yes. When my father demanded I kill him, I didn't hesitate. My father banished, burned, and rejected my brother for speaking out of line. I wasn't about to get the same treatment for disobeying him. It was me, or Zuko. And I was never a huge fan of Zuko anyway."

Her voice dropped to a volume so low, only the echo of the stone walls carried it to Izumi's ears. "Funny how no one ever mentions how he was ready to kill me too."

Izumi tried to school his features into indifference, but it was hard not to react to that allegation.

She shrugged, pulling away from the bars and moving to sit on the bed. "Fine. I can see you don't believe me. But as they say, it takes two to tango. Your _oh-so-good-now_ father was there, firing away at me too. I did what I had to do, Izumi, just like he did, and just like you're doing now. The only difference between you and me is that I ended up on the losing side." She picked up a book and cracked it open to read.

Sensing the conversation was over, Izumi rose from his seat and walked toward the door. As he reached to knock, Azula spoke once more.

"If you ever want to talk, I'll be here, nephew. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'll be here indefinitely, so any secrets you share will probably rot away in here with me. Just a thought."

Finally, Izumi left, head swirling with confusing thoughts and emotions and pounding harder than ever.


	2. Chapter 2: Like a Thief in the Night

**Chapter 2**

 _Like a Thief in the Night_

I startled at the unexpected, familiar voice. For a brief second (which will shame me until the day I die,) I actually thought Uncle Iroh had actually spoken to me from beyond the grave.

I peered around the tree to find a woman lounging comfortably against the other side, arms behind her head and feet planted firmly on the ground, where they belonged. She was chewing on a blade of grass, a fact that would seem strange for anyone else, but for her, I wasn't even a little surprised.

My face burned in embarrassment. "Hi Toph," I mumbled, trying to ignore the fact that I thought she was the ghost of an old man for a moment.

She grunted her greetings. I shuffled back to my side of the tree and leaned against it, one leg extended, one bent to give my elbow a resting place. I laid my head back against the trunk and winced as a wayward twig dug into my skull.

"Ouch!" I hissed.

Toph barked a laugh. "Kid, you are something else."

"I know," I sighed. "Did you hear what happened?"

"Of course I did. I hear everything!" She said in a mock-offended tone.

I groaned.

"Hey, look on the bright side. You actually fire bended a real fire ball!"

"Yeah, and it burned down the entire room!"

"Well that just seems like poor construction to me. Why would they make the place so easy to burn in a palace full of fire benders? Heck, why would you put anything flammable anywhere near a teenage Zuko?" She snorted, and I couldn't stop a small smile from creeping across my face.

"I'm sure they weren't exactly expecting any inexperienced, accident-prone benders to hang out in the war chambers..."

Toph paused at that. "That'll teach you to always prepare for the worst, I guess."

We sat quietly for a minute or two before she spoke again. "You come here a lot, huh?"

I nodded, and then remembered that she wouldn't see the movement and quickly said, "Yeah. Uncle Iroh and I have gotten pretty close."

To my surprise, she didn't laugh at the jibe. Instead, she took a deep breath and exhaled thoughtfully. "He would have liked you."

I sat up straight. "You knew him?"

"Yeah, we actually met right after I met Aang and your mom. We were friends, kind of."

"Was this before you met my father?"

"Oh yeah. I first came across your father shortly after that, when we were fighting off your crazy Aunt Azula. Uncle Iroh took quite a hit that day."

"What was he like? To you, I mean. I've heard hundreds of stories from Father, but I'm curious about what you felt about him."

"Smart kid," she chucked. "I am full of wisdom about this stuff. I met him when I was frustrated and upset with your mom, actually. I just left my home and was prepared to pull my own weight. I was so used to being independent and self-sufficient that I didn't realize what it meant to be a part of a team. I never had any siblings or anything, so being on my own was kind of second nature. But then I met your great-uncle Iroh. He was tracking your dad when he went on one of his solo journeys of self discovery," she added in a mocking raspy voice that captured my father all too well. "He stopped to make me a pot of tea and we talked. He was funny and strange, but I could tell he had a good heart and he really loved his nephew."

I smiled. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"But I think what made me like him most was his heartbeat."

"His heartbeat?"

"Yeah, dummy. The thing that beats in your chest and makes you not die?"

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks for the clarification."

"It was so strong and steady. He was a thoughtful old man, but his heart told me that he was a powerful guy who relied more on his heart than his fists. He was kind to me when he didn't need to be, but his heart beat so evenly that it felt like he did stuff like this for strangers all the time." She finished her story with a softer, more reverent voice than I'd ever heard from his rock-solid woman of stone.

I tried to picture it: young Toph and Uncle Iroh, sitting companionably and sipping tea. It was a comforting image.

"He was also a sneaky old fox, though." Her voice took on its normal assertiveness.

A shocked laugh burst from my chest. "Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. Mother and Father told some stories about him and his little tricks. You can even see the michief in his photo here."

"There's a photo here?"

The nostalgia of the moment screeched to a halt. "Yeah... wait, you didn't know this is Uncle Iroh's tree?"

"How was I supposed to know? I'm blind!" From the corner of my eye, I caught her throwing her hands up in indignation. I fought off a laugh. "I was wondering why you brought him up. I thought you were just... I don't know... feeling his presence or something!"

I rubbed a hand down my face to control my laughter. She grumbled a string of words I probably wasn't meant to hear and definitely wasn't meant to repeat. But then she said, "Now that I think about it, I do feel like he's lingering here, watching over us and giving us words of wisdom. Crazy old man."

I sighed, brought back to reality with the abrupt seriousness in her tone. "I wonder what he'd say to me now."

"Probably some stuff about following your heart or something."

"Right."

Toph shifted a little and a pebble flew out nowhere and smacked me right in the forehead.

"ACK! Hey!" I jumped clumsily to my feet to stand over her, hands clenched in fists. "What was that for?"

She shrugged, unconcerned. "You were feeling sorry for yourself. It's a waste of energy and it just brings everybody down. Who cares what anyone else would say, what matters is what you have to say about it now. As long as you learned something from all of this, what's the problem?" Her pale, grey, sightless eyes peered out from beneath haphazard black bangs. Her hair was piled high and tucked behind an earth kingdom band Aang had given her last year for their anniversary. She had thrown a rock at him for being so sappy, of course, but I'd yet to see her go anywhere without it.

The corner of her mouth ticked upwards in a smirk. I couldn't help but smile a little too.

"Thanks Toph."

She waved a hand lazily. "Yeah, yeah." She rose up from the ground and tossed aside the blade of grass she'd been chewing on. "I have to get back. Those knuckleheads can't seem to get anywhere without me." She marched away, waving a hand behind her as she went. I watched her go for a moment before sitting back down against the tree.

I lifted my hand to my hair and plucked out the small, golden Fire Nation emblem from my topknot. I fingered the object in my hands thoughtfully. As far as royalty went, I was a far cry from the grace and dignity my parents effortlessly embodied. I never felt worthy of the crown I wore. I just wanted to sit and brood for a while.

But did I get time to myself to think?

No.

Who showed up?

The. Stupid. Cat.

A slinky body padded quietly through the courtyard and came to rest by a fountain. It sat there, licking its paw and staring at me with cold, yellow-green eyes.

"Youuuu..." I hissed with narrowed eyes. That little devil just continued to stare, unperturbed.

I looked away for a moment, brooding. Then, in a sudden and completely childish little tantrum, I shoved a fist toward the offending animal, willing my breath and my energy to make a blast of fire. I didn't want to hurt it, (well, maybe a little part of me did,) but I did want to scare it away from me my courtyard.

As expected, a pathetic little flicker proofed out of my fingers and dissolved into the night air.

"Ugh!" I shouted in frustration. "What's the point of being a fire bender if I can't even bend?!" I stood and kicked the ground like the helpless, irritated child I was. When that wasn't enough, I hurled the crown across the courtyard. It landed just inches short of the cat.

And even worse, the tantrum didn't produce a single spark.

But it did make me notice another shadow slinking through the darkness beyond the main gate. My eyes widened in recognition as the familiar form of the thief from the war room dashed off down the path toward the docks.

I hope that history will also note that I had a moment here where I thought about my options. It wasn't a long moment and it basically consisted of: _Should I get help? Or should I go after him myself? It would probably be smarter to go get help._ But my feet weren't exactly listening, and before I could take a minute to do the right thing, I was already racing through the air after the thief.

He was tall, that much I could tell as his long legs propelled him forward across the grass. From behind it was hard to see much else, but I glimpsed a dark mask with two protruding points peeking above his head like ears.

 _He actually reminds me a little bit of that cat. Wouldn't it be something if they were partners on a mission to destroy the Fire Nation._

My own thoughts were so amusing to me that I lost my footing for a moment. I straightened out before I hit the ground, though, and took off again, but I'd lost precious moments. He was far ahead of me now, nearly at the steps along the cliffside where his getaway boat was probably waiting. I pumped my legs harder, willing myself to just accomplish something good for once. Step after step, I gained more ground, pulling up close until I could almost reach out a hand and grab him.

Too bad I didn't think about what I'd do once I did. My fingers met cloth, and then, faster than I could blink, I felt the earth shift beneath my feet and suddenly I was falling.

Air rushed past me as I tumbled backwards and disaster struck as if in slow motion. The thief had dodged abruptly and now stood in a rooted earth-bending stance, hands extended toward the pile of loose dirt where my feet had once been. Only now my feet were on no dirt. I had come too close to the edge and was, illogically but predictably, falling straight off of the cliff. My hands reached out to grasp the air desperately as my heartbeat thundered in my ears. I felt like my stomach had flown into my throat and adrenaline momentarily blocked all of my vision out of sheer panic.

My first thought was to blame the cat.


	3. Chapter 3: Dignified Lifeless Body

**Chapter 3**

 _Dignified Lifeless Body_

I would like to say that my life flashed before my eyes as the world tilted upwards and away from me. I would like to say that I found my purpose in life in that cliff-dive. I would like to say that I felt peaceful and happy as I embraced death with open arms.

But I wasn't. I was pissed off.

All my life, I'd trained and trained, only to be a terrible fire-bender and an average fighter. But that was okay because Izumi had that championship title in the bag from the moment he sneezed flames from his nostrils at age three. I tried my hand at being an artisan, but the nicest thing my mother, the kindest woman in the world, had to say was, "You have potential!"

I was so sick of being told that I had "potential"! Potential for what? Mediocrity?!

So here I was, falling to my death, never having accomplished anything note-worthy and never having reached that "potential".

My tombstone would read: _Here lies Princess Kairo, Doer of Nothing and Hater of Cats._

No. NOT TODAY.

I clenched every muscle in my body to crunch my abs together and flip myself around in the air so that, instead of falling face-up, my stomach was now aimed at the ground. A scream of exertion rippled through my body as I focused all of my energy in an imaginary pathway from my lungs to my feet. I shoved my knees out straight in one rapid motion and prayed with all of my might to send fire through my feet.

I'll never know if it actually worked the way it did in my imagination, but thankfully, whatever burst of energy flowed from my legs was enough to propel me forward, back toward the edge.

And then I careened face-first into the cliff. What should have been a beautiful and miraculous save was more of a fantastically humiliating fumble. It did the trick, however, and I reached up just in time to grip the edge and cling to the rocks for dear life.

Then, to my everlasting surprise and relief, a pair of strong hands latched onto my arms and yanked me painfully up the side of the cliff and tossed me onto the ground. I just lay still there, face in the dirt, heaving unsteady breaths and somehow fighting irrational laughter at the sheer panic and ridiculousness I felt.

"Are you okay?"

I just laughed shakily. It was my only response.

"Is that a yes?"

When a little more feeling flooded into my arms and legs, I pushed myself onto my knees. I lifted my head with a smile on my face and an answer all ready to go for my helper—

When I actually caught sight of him.

"Cat?" I whispered furiously.

It wasn't my nemesis, the literal black cat from the courtyard, but the thief that greeted me, kneeling on the ground, still dressed in black and still masked. Turns out it wasn't my imagination as I was chasing him; he really was wearing a mask shaped like an ink-black leopard, ears and all, with ornate and subtle carvings of spots and swirls across the dark material. Two, tiny holes peered out at me through the mask.

He cocked his head to the side. "How hard did you hit your head?" He murmured and reached out to inspect my forehead. His hand came away red, and I remembered smacking into the rocks.

Then my face started to burn, both in embarrassment and in pain. It was one of those moments when your body is in enough shock that it doesn't register that it's injured until you see it and remember: _Oh that's right, I'm broken._

"Ouch…" I muttered, lifting a hand to my forehead. The thief made a choking sound and I sharply looked up at him again, eyes wide. The choking slowly blended into full-blown laughter until he was clutching his stomach and bending his head to his knees, hollering. I stared at him, stunned.

With his head out of the way, I spotted a cylindrical pack slung over his back. _The scrolls from the war room..._ Figuring this was my opportunity to snatch them back, I launched myself at the pack. Unfortunately, head injuries are disorienting for even the most graceful people. For the coordination-challenged, they are a disaster.

Not only did I miss the pack entirely, but I also ended up sprawled across this stranger's back and he toppled over onto the ground with a surprised "Oof!"

I fumbled with the fabric, tugging on the leather straps attached to his pack. He bucked beneath me and sent me tumbling off of him and back into the dirt (head first, naturally). I groaned as a sharp pain burst from my skull on impact. The world began to spin. I shut my eyes tightly and clutched my head, unable to get up from my undignified position on the ground.

If I wasn't in so much pain, I might have commented on how well this apprehension was going.

"What were you trying to do? Hug me?" The thief asked in disbelief.

I moaned. "I'm apprehending you."

He snorted. "Sure you are."

Without lifting my head, I pointed in his general direction and accused, "Those scrolls don't belong to you."

"They don't belong to you either," he quickly retorted.

I opened my mouth to correct him, but then closed it again thoughtfully. Did they technically belong to me? Or just my father? Did I have ownership over them by default? Or did they belong to the palace, like an old temple artifact?

The ache in my head skyrocketed under the weight of this train of thought and I moaned again, choosing to drop it for my own health and sanity's sake.

He sighed. "Well, now I've got a dilemma. See, I have a boat to catch, but I feel bad leaving you alone out here like this, with a questionable injury and even more questionable judgment."

"To be fair, my judgment was never great to begin with," I mumbled, clutching at my temples to keep my head from splitting.

He chuckled. "That doesn't make me feel any better." A moment passed in silence. He sighed. "I guess I don't have much choice. Come on."

Suddenly, I felt my body being lifted from the ground and I sucked in a breath as he folded me over his broad shoulder. Pain rocketed through my head. I gritted my teeth against a whimper that fought to escape me with every jostling movement he made as he slung me over his arm and back and started swiftly down the hill. Every part of me wanted to lash out and yell and struggle in indignation, but the pain in my head was rising to debilitating levels.

This time, I chose to listen to my aching brain instead of my boiling insides, and I told myself to roll with it. I would rest my head and save my energy for the right time to strike. I was determined to bring back those scrolls, and with any luck, I would bring back the man who stole them, too.

… Even if it meant being carried like a sack of wheat. _If only Izumi could see me now. Princess Kairo, Doer of Nothing, Hater of Cats, Dignified Lifeless Body._


	4. Chapter 4: Truce

**Chapter 4**

 _Truce_

The masked man set me down in an empty house at the edge of the village between the palace and the docks. The fact that we climbed in through the window indicated that this was definitely not his house and we were definitely not supposed to be there, but my head ached too badly for me to care.

He settled me down onto a pillow on the ground beside a low table and pulled out a canteen of water from his pack. With it, he dampened some sort of fancy cloth napkin from off of the table and gently wiped away the blood caked onto my forehead. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply through his ministrations, willing the pain to die down.

After a few minutes, it did. He shoved the canteen into my hands and I opened an eye at him.

"Drink," He ordered.

I drank, trying and failing not to dribble it down my chin. By the time he snatched back the canteen, I was feeling significantly less like I was going to die.

"Better?" He asked.

I nodded, still eyeing his obsidian mask warily. He was about to get up when I blurted out, "Why did you steal the scrolls?"

He tilted his head. "For money."

I raised an eyebrow and smirked in disbelief. "No, tell me the real reason."

"Why should I do that?"

I shrugged a shoulder. "You pushed me off of a cliff. I think the least you can do it tell me why you stole from the Fire Lord."

"I did not push you off of a cliff!" He denied indignantly.

"Okay, listen cat-ears, I may be clumsy, but there is no way that I just launched myself over that cliff. You did something with my feet and I went flying. End of debate."

Fully expecting further argument, I crossed my arms and stared into the mask's small eyeholes. But to my surprise, no objections came.

"I'm on a mission of sorts," he answered vaguely.

"A mission to steal Fire Nation stuff?"

"No," he said, "a mission to find someone."

"And that someone was in the war room?"

"I figured 'that someone' might be mentioned in some _documents_ in the war room."

"Ah, I see. Why do you need to find them so badly that you risked breaking into the Royal Palace?" I asked. This was the most puzzling thing to me.

He took a deep breath and slowly let it out before he looked up from his clasped hands. I met his forest-green eyes, filled with an unfathomable emotion that was hard to watch. "Haven't you ever felt like you were worthless? Haven't you ever wanted to do something important, something that mattered? Have you ever just looked at your life and felt empty and disappointed?"

My throat suddenly felt oddly tight. I didn't say anything, but my expression must have betrayed some of what I was feeling, because he leaned in closer and continued, with renewed fervor. "I have. Every day I would wake up, alone, and I would hate myself for being too young or too scared and unprepared to do anything about all of this injustice and evil in the world. One day I decided enough was enough. I'm not just wandering around wreaking havoc for fun. I truly believe in what I'm fighting for. For the first time, I have a purpose, a mission in life. And nothing is going to stop me from reaching that goal."

"You don't make it very easy to argue with you," I whispered.

He huffed a laugh. "I wasn't trying to argue, I was just presenting my case. I'm not some greedy thief."

"No," I interrupted, "you're a thief with a tragic backstory and noble intentions."

"Exactly." He nodded vigorously and I smiled, though the rapid movement made my head spin a little. "And you are a very misguided Fire Nation brainwashing victim. The young are so easily manipulated…" he sighed dramatically.

I bristled. "Excuse me, but you can't be that much older than I am!"

He cocked his head to the side again, looking so predatory that I couldn't help but think of the cat I'd left in the courtyard. With my luck it will have destroyed the whole place by the time I got back since I left it unsupervised.

"How old are you?" he asked.

I fidgeted, debating for a second whether or not I should lie. I settled on telling him the truth, partially because there was no reason to be embarrassed about it, and partially because I figured that a sign of maturity would probably include owning up to one's age. "Sixteen," I told him.

"Really? Hmm."

"What?"

"No, it's nothing. It's just… wh are you so small?" he asked in a stage-whisper. I scowled at him and chose not to dignify that with an answer.

"If size indicates age, what would that make you? 50?"

"I'm nineteen, actually."

"Hmph." I didn't really know what else to say to that.

"So, tiny one, why is it that you care so much about these things?" He asked me, patting his pack and ignoring my glare.

The gears in my brain churned. There were a lot of reasons I cared about returning those scrolls, but most of them were directly related to the fact that I was Fire Nation royalty, a fact that received mixed reactions in the best of circumstances. Somehow, I doubted a man who was stealing from the palace would feel terribly charitable toward the Fire Lord's family. I gave him an answer that was the truth, even if it wasn't entirely forthcoming.

"I'm a historian," I shrugged. "Preserving important documents is important to me. That, and I'm curious about why _you_ are so interested in them."

"Hmm. Interesting." He leaned forward in his chair. "What if I told you that these documents have names and maps and records of Earth Kingdom armies in the war?"

I blinked. "It wouldn't surprise me. Those came from the _war chambers_. No one has really been in there to clean out that stuff since the end of the war."

"And what if I told you that there are some people on this list who are still out there somewhere?"

I furrowed my brows in confusion. "You mean like prisoners of war?"

"Something along those lines, yes."

"That's impossible. It's been twenty-five years since the war ended. After my— after Fire Lord Zuko called for a ceasefire, all prisoners of war were released and everyone who survived either went home or went to join the rebuilding efforts in the Earth Kingdom."

"Some people never made it home. And they didn't go to the Earth Kingdom cities. They're still out there somewhere. These scrolls just might lead me to them."

My jaw dropped. "You're serious?"

He nodded. "Dead serious. I received a letter about a month ago from… from someone who was in the war, telling me he and his army were still out there, unable to come home somehow."

"Did he say where?" I asked urgently.

He just stared at me through the mask until I realized my mistake. "Right, of course he didn't… or else you wouldn't need… the Fire Nation scrolls… to find them…"

"I'm setting off tonight to try to find them and bring them home."

A dark thought crossed my mind, and I grimaced uncomfortably before shyly asking, "Sorry but… how do you know that they're still… you know… out there? Maybe the letter was sent a long time ago and only got to you just now? It just seems really unlikely to me that an entire army would go missing for over twenty years."

He shook his head vehemently. "He sent this recently. I know he did. The parchment was new, and he signed it with the date."

"Can I see it?"

He began reaching for his pack, but then stopped himself and turned his masked face back to me. Slowly, he placed his hands back on his knees. "Sorry, but I think I'll hold on to that myself for now. Small as you might be, you're still a Fire Nation brat." He paused to study me. "Now that I think about it, what were _you_ doing in the Fire Lord's war chambers, tiny Fire Nation brat?"

I rolled my eyes. "No way. You are welcome to be as mysterious as you want, but don't expect me to be an open book for you unless you give me more information. Plus, I'm just saying, cartography, history, and analysis were my strong suits in my studies. Maybe I could offer some insights."

It was true; these were things I had excelled in growing up. And by "excelled" I mean I was almost as good as Izumi, so I was far more advanced than any of the other children in the class.

He rubbed the chin of the mask thoughtfully. "A master cartographer and historian, huh? Too bad I knocked you out before you got the chance to take a look at the documents I was looking for. And then we both know what happened after that…"

My eye twitched. He laughed. "Still a little sensitive about that? Come on, Tiny, it wasn't that—"

 _BANG BANG BANG!_

"Fire Nation soldiers! Open up!"

He jumped to his feet and launched himself away from the front door, where the violent knocking was shaking the doorframe.

"Looks like it's time to go!" He quietly muttered in a singsong voice. "Come on, out the window we go," he said, gesturing for me to follow through the opening in the window leading into the alley.

To this day, I don't really understand why I followed him. If I'd waited there, the Fire Nation soldiers would have escorted me back to the palace and my masked friend and I would have gone on our merry ways, never to see each other again. Maybe it was curiosity, maybe it was destiny, maybe it was just my brain shutting off and choosing to go with the flow and avoid actual rational thought. Maybe it was just brain damage after losing a battle with a cliff. Who knows? All I know is that I did follow him through the open window and into the empty street.

"Hey! Stop right there!"

Two Fire Nation soldiers, armed with swords, were standing at the entrance to the alleyway. The masked man muttered a curse and took off in the opposite direction at a sprint.

I whipped my head from left to right, over and over. I flicked my eyes between my nation's approaching soldiers and my new friend's retreating form at the opposite end of the alley. A choice of betrayal stood before me, and immediately my mind returned to the tree in the courtyard where Uncle Iroh's tree was waiting, rooted and unwavering. Toph's voice floated through my head. _He'd probably say something about following your heart or something…_

I took a deep breath and offered up a silent prayer to the grandfather-figure I'd never known. _Alright, Uncle, I'm trusting my heart here, but if everything goes wrong I'm blaming you!_

 _...And the cat._

The soldiers had finally reached me in the center of the alleyway. Before they could utter a sound, I leapt into action.

True, I was a terrible bender. True, I was a major clutz. But I was no novice to combat technique and evasion. I was a far cry off from the prodigies my parents and brothers were, but I was taught well enough in both Fire Nation and Water Tribe movements to hold my own.

I slipped around the first soldier, twisting my body between him and the wall like a river flowing around a boulder. I came up from behind him and slammed my left elbow as hard as I could into the soft muscle of his neck where Father's old friend, Tai Lee, had once shown me a sensitive nerve cluster was positioned. I missed the spot the first time, which was moderately embarrassing. But before he could turn around, I jammed my elbow down a second time, this time nailing him a little higher and sending him sprawling to the ground.

The second soldier had caught on to the threat by now and was no longer seeking to brush past me, but backtracked and came at me with rapier in hand. I sidestepped the hilt of the blade that he'd swung at my face, obviously intending to stop me, but not kill me.

Wise man.

Not quite wise enough.

As he brought his arm back up, I ducked down low and pulled my body in close until it was flush with his. He prepared to bring his arm back down and nail the center of my head with the butt of the sword, but before he could begin the decent, I jumped up and pushed his arm backward with both hands. He shouted in pain as his shoulder twisted farther back than it was ever meant to bend, and his hand involuntarily released the weapon. It clattered to the ground and I retrieved it quickly.

I didn't waste any time. I slammed the rapier's hilt into the same area of this man's neck repeatedly until he slumped to the ground alongside his companion, dazed, disoriented, and in too much pain to chase after anyone now.

Weapons weren't really my thing, but I decided to take this man's blade with me, just in case I ran into something truly dangerous as I took off after the masked man.

I caught up with him at the edge of the village, where he was leaning casually against a firelit pillar.

"I saw what you did back there."

I kept my expression blank, sure he was going to critique my subpar performance.

"It was impressive."

I blinked. "What?"

"I said I was impressed. I didn't think you'd turn on one of your own like that to save me. Thank you."

"Who says I did it for you?" I asked, feeling a flood of guilt pool in my gut.

He pushed away from the wall. "Sorry, how presumptuous of me."

I shuffled my feet, unsure of where to go from here.

"I have a proposal for you," he said.

That caught my attention. I jerked my chin up and stared at him incredulously.

"What kind of proposal?"

He chuckled. "The kind where you get out of this place and finally become a part of something meaningful, and I get a historian, navigator, and combat partner. What do you say?"

I gaped at him. "You can't be serious."

"Oh, I'm serious. You have more information in your little head than I have in all of these scrolls and more!" He said emphatically, tapping my forehead and gesturing to his pack. I winced at the agitation of my lingering headache.

"You want to see where you fit in the world. I can see it in your lovely blue eyes. Where better to do that than with me, out there in the world, instead of here, hidden away from it?"

"I'm not 'hidden away' here. I've been outside of the Fire Nation plenty of times." Granted, these times were only on family vacations to visit Uncle Sokka in the Earth Kingdom, or Grandfather in the Southern Water Tribe, but he didn't need to know that.

"But were you fighting for something you believed in when you went there? Were you on a mission?" That gave me pause. Then, he leaned over me and murmured, "Haven't you always wanted to go on an adventure?"

"Yes," I admitted, "but not with a masked stranger with illusions of grandeur."

He laughed. "Okay, that settles it. You have to come, if only to bring that sense of humor to the trip. I'll probably go insane of boredom if I go alone."

I folded my arms and raised a brow at him. "That's not really incentive for me to go anywhere with you."

He stilled and pulled away from me slowly. "I don't think I need to give you any more incentives. I think you've already decided to come."


	5. Chapter 5: Life-Changing Field-Trip

**Chapter 5**

 _Life-Changing Trip_

I only had an hour. It was a ridiculously inadequate time frame to race home, make the most important decision of my life thus far, collect all of my things, and race back to the rendezvous point at the docks.

If I decided to go, that is.

Which would be stupid.

It was a terrible idea.

I could think of a thousand reasons why it would be a mistake.

But unfortunately, those reasons were starting to drown beneath that inexplicable tug in my heart that told me I was destined to go out there and do something, find something, _become_ something better.

So there I was, darting through the main gates in a beeline for my bedroom window. I tumbled through it in a daze, clutching a stich in my side. I jogged over to my wardrobe and snatched up my largest messenger-bag satchel and filled it with my training gear. Protective cuffs for my wrists and ankles, sturdy running shoes, black wrappings, and dark combat tunics and pants, my only attire devoid of Fire Nation insignias, went in first. Luckily, I was already dressed in my most breathable daywear, which was simple and plain and betrayed none of my royal heritage. Next went in some of the essentials, including a several small pouches of money to stash in various locations once I got to the ship, just in case.

I reached for my father's dagger on it's usual perch on the mantle and paused, momentarily caught up in sentiment. I remembered the day my father had given me this dagger.

It was my birthday. I was ten years old. He came into my room and took me by the hand, leading me to Uncle Iroh's tree. Together, we knelt before it and looked up at the picture I now knew so well. "When I was little, Uncle sent Azula and I gifts from the Earth Kingdom as he was trying to conquer Ba Sing Se."

"That was before Uncle was good, right?" I interrupted, hoping to show him I was paying attention in my studies. He smiled a little at me.

"I think Uncle was always good, Kai. But I think he didn't truly understand how the war was destroying the balance in the world until after… until he lost his son." He paused for a beat in somber silence before continuing, "Uncle gave me a gift that I have carried with me ever since that day, everywhere I went." He pulled out a small, thin knife in a black Earth Kingdom sheath with two golden protrusions extending on either side of the hilt. Sliding the blade from the casing, he turned the object over and over in his hands. On the front of the silver dagger were engraved the words " _Never Give Up Without a Fight_ ". I'd seen the knife before. It was Father's most prized possession, as precious to him as Grandmother Kya's necklace was to my mother.

As a ten-year-old, however, I didn't understand the significance of this gift. I wasn't particularly interested in a family history lesson on my birthday when there was desert waiting in the dining hall.

Father had given me the knife, telling me, "This is yours now, Kairo. I'm giving it to you because it feels like Iroh would have wanted you to have it, since he couldn't be around to…" he cleared his throat, "to give you a special gift himself."'

"Izumi got a gift from Uncle Iroh. He told me he got a fancy fire bending scroll."

"That's right."

"But I'm not a good fire bender, so you're giving me this instead."

My father spluttered a bit, flustered and awkward at my frankness. "No, no, that's not… Kairo, I'm giving you this knife because it is something really special to me, and to your Great Uncle, and we both agree that you were meant to have it."

I stared into his eyes and accepted the gift with a shrug, unconcerned with the history I held in my hands.

Now, six years later, I felt the emotional weight of that small gift more than ever before. Uncertainty, guilt, and doubt weighed it down in my hand until I could hardly bear to touch it. But I took a deep breath, steeled myself with all the courage I could muster, and slid the knife into the sash around my waist.

I had to leave now, before I changed my mind.

For a moment I debated whether or not I should leave a note for my family. I decided against it, figuring I didn't have enough time to adequately form the words to tell them that I was leaving on a mysterious adventure with a wanted fugitive. That, and the more I thought about it in words, it seemed like a ridiculous idea, so I chose to dwell on it later and send a messenger hawk once I was gone.

I slipped back through the window without a second glance. The courtyard was still and quiet, devoid of all life. Even the cat had disappeared.

I jogged toward the gate, but just as I was about to cross through it, my parents' voices floated toward me from beyond the doorway at the other end. I whipped my head in their direction and froze in a panic. Four figures were standing in the doorway, their distinctive silhouettes illuminated in the firelight. They were deep in conversation and clearly hadn't noticed me sneaking out of the palace in the middle of the night.

"The problem is not the Rebellion, it's the identity crisis that sparked the Rebellion," Father was saying, "and I just don't see how we can solve that as quickly as the people expect us to."

I slid one foot across the ground, inching toward the gate and thanking the heavens that they had stopped to chat before coming outside.

"I agree. The whole rebuilding effort is going about as smoothly as we hoped, especially with Sokka making so much progress over in the Earth Kingdom, but the damage brought on by the war is deeper and wider than we ever expected. Sovereignty and policy negotiation can only go so far to repairing that damage. The rest, I fear, will need time to heal," replied a deep and deliberate voice that could only be my parent's closest friend and ally, the Avatar himself. I took another step forward, eyes glued to the adults in the doorframe. One of the figures, the shortest of the group if not for a distinctive rounded hairstyle that gave her several inches on my mother, turned her head toward me.

I held my breath, sure that Toph had heard me and would call me out any second. But she didn't say a word.

"That's what I'm afraid of. The Rebellion doesn't want to wait for things to settle down. They want results _now,_ " my mother chimed in.

I took another step. Just one more and I would be free to slip around the corner and out of sight.

"I think," came Toph's commanding voice, "that we made the right choice. We made the _brave_ choice. We ought to be _careful_ and _smart_ about how we move forward. You never know what might happen out there in the unknown."

A befuddled silence greeted these words. I'm sure that my parents and Aang were more than a little confused by the statement, but it wasn't really meant for them. I smiled and breathed a nearly inaudible thank you to her before taking the opportunity to make the final move out of the palace and into the darkness once more.

. . .

I barely made it in time. A young man with medium-length dark hair tied back in a loose knot at the nape of his neck was loading supplies in crates into a large fishing boat at the end of the pier. He straightened up as he heard me approaching, and I realized he was no longer wearing the mask.

"You came back. I didn't really think you would," he said, turning to give me a real look at him for the first time. His face was less long and fiercely angular than my father and brothers'; it was more squared and roguish in structure, with wide, forest-green eyes and curved eyebrows that gave him a misleading look of innocence. His grin was wide and full, and his cheeks dimpled so deeply that it looked like they were struggling to accommodate the full measure of his smile. His skin was slightly tanned, meaning he was several shades darker than I was, but not quite the with the rich sienna tones of indigenous Water Tribe races.

I'll admit, he wasn't the worst thing to look at, without that horrible feline mask over his face.

"Of course I came back. I wasn't about to just let a fugitive wander around in my kingdom unsupervised."

"How noble of you."

"Thank you," I sniffed.

He grinned again and put his hands on his hips as he looked me over. "I guess we should probably give out names now, since we'll be traveling together and 'hey you' would get pretty old pretty fast, don't you think?"

I nodded stiffly.

"Okay, I'll go first. I'm Torrin."

"Torrin." I repeated before I could stop myself. I felt my ears warm. "Right. Got it."

He stared at me expectantly until I realized that he was waiting for me to return the gesture.

"Oh, my name is…"

I drew a blank. I couldn't tell him my real name. He was bound to have heard the Fire Nation princess' name at some point, and it wouldn't be hard to make the connection, since we'd crossed paths twice now near the palace. I almost told him to call me Kai, but that felt a little wrong giving it to someone outside of my family, who didn't even know my real name.

So I made up a new one, something that paid tribute to one of my namesakes who had been the inspiration behind this whole scheme in the first place.

"Ira," I told him. "My name is Ira."


	6. Chapter 6: Return of the Blue Spirit

**Chapter 6**

 _Return of the Blue Spirit_

"Here, if you're coming with me, you'll need one of these." Torrin held out a box filled with ornamental spirit masks. I rifled through them, intrigued.

"Where did you get all of these?" I asked.

He shrugged, turning back to loading his supplies into the boat. "I pick them up here and there. Some merchant in Ba Sing Se said he found a few hidden around during the cleanup after the war and he gave them to me in exchange for some fire nation junk."

A flash of blue caught my eye, and I reached to the bottom of the box to pull out a worn spirit mask with fanged teeth and a jagged crack running through the top right corner. White horns framed the upper sides, alongside a wide and wicked white smile that gave it a menacing and fascinating appeal.

I don't know what it was that drew me to this mask; perhaps it was the mystery of it. The paint was faded around the edges, and there was a crack through the middle of the left eye, which gave me the sense that it had many stories to tell. It felt almost familiar to my eyes and my hands. I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I must have seen it before, but couldn't place where…

Torrin caught me staring in befuddlement at it and sauntered over. "That's one of my favorites. The expression is so fierce; you can't help but get the shivers. The guy who sold it to me told me that a Fire Nation outlaw used to wear this and run around causing trouble back during the war."

"What happened to the outlaw?" I asked, keeping my eyes rooted to the mask.

"The merchant said he didn't know. He found it at the bottom of Lake Laogai, so my guess is the Fire Nation probably hunted him down and killed him." He shook his head sadly.

I fought back that uncomfortable twinge I always felt when he brought up his hatred for the Fire Nation and handed him the box of masks without uttering a word. I kept the battered blue mask for myself, though. For some reason, even though it was shabby and old, it felt wrong to let it go. Instead, I slipped it over my face and tightened the strap around the back of my head.

Torrin glanced at me and nodded thoughtfully. "It suits you," he said. "Now let's get going before our good luck runs out… which with you on board could be any minute."

I shoved his shoulder and he chuckled as he hopped on board. I prepared to follow him, but paused on the gangplank to catch my reflection in the glassy water below me. A wavering image of a stealthy assassin, dressed in all black, adorned with an old blue and white spirit mask stared back at me, ready and waiting to take on anyone or anything.

I liked that image. I liked it a lot.


	7. Chapter 7: Zutara

**Chapter 7**

 _Zutara_

"I've been thinking about going back to the ponytail look, what do you think?"

"That sounds like a great idea, Zuko! And while you're at it, why don't we just go get Aang and you can chase him around the palace for your honor?"

"Not funny, Katara."

Katara laughed. "Neither was the joke about your hair! That's the only reason I married you, you know."

Zuko, who had been tugging at a stand of hair now falling past his shoulders, abruptly froze and stared at his wife in the mirror. Katara had her back to him, folding her clothes into a neat pile for the laundress to take away and missed his temporary shock. His face melted into an amused smirk. "My hair, huh? Not my sparkling personality?"

"Nope!" She called over her shoulder. "Not even your sunny optimism!"

"I am a constant bundle of joy."

Katara looked over her shoulder at him and rolled her eyes. "Kairo said the same thing to me the other day."

Zuko sighed. "She is a bit of a handful, isn't she?"

Katara scoffed. "Right, I'm sure you were always sunshine and roses growing up with your Uncle."

He smiled. "Uncle would have loved her."

Sensing his wistful tone, Katara came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle. "I'm sure he's watching from somewhere, probably laughing and smiling at all of her antics."

He rested a hand on her clasped hands at his waist. "I'm sure you're right. I just wish he'd had a chance to meet her."

"I'm grateful that Gran Gran got to see her before she passed."

Zuko snorted. "I'm pretty sure Gran Gran just refused to let the spirits take her until she did."

Katara giggled. "Do you remember what she said when you came to the Southern Water Tribe?"

"Which time?"

She poked him in the stomach. "The second time, of course! The winter after Father made me go back home when the war was over. I was only gone for a few months before you decided you couldn't live without me and you took your little warship all the way down there to come get me."

He blushed. "I didn't go get you just because I missed you, we needed a healer and the colonies were rioting, and you've always had a knack for making great speeches…" he grumbled, but Katara just squeezed him affectionately.

"Admit it. You missed me."

"…Maybe just a little…"

"That's good, because I missed you, too."

Zuko coughed into his fist, pleased. "I was a little worried that you wouldn't want to leave your home to come back with me, truthfully. That's one of the only reasons I took so long to get you back."

She thought about that for a moment. "To be honest, it didn't really feel like home anymore. I mean, I'm not exactly born to be a nomad, like Aang; I need a home base. But after running around, exploring the world, helping people… I went back to my village and just felt so restless. It was great to see Gran Gran again and to spend some time with my father, and I guess I had enough to do with all the visiting Northern Water Tribe dignitaries. Though most of that was just keeping my father from losing his temper over how little they helped out their sister tribe in the war…" She sighed. "I don't know. I guess I just felt like there was somewhere else that needed me more, someplace where I could be in the middle of the action. Home never felt so… isolated before I left. But when I got back, nothing was really the same."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," murmured Zuko. He looked around. "This place never really felt like home to me. These halls were filled with too many memories to really make me feel at ease. But day-by-day, things felt a little warmer, especially with new memories of all of us running around trying to fix the entire world… After everyone left though, this place became cold and unfamiliar again."

"I'm sorry you felt that way. I hope I never made you feel like I was abandoning you—" Katara began, but Zuko quickly cut her off.

"No, no, I understood that your tribe needed you and you were anxious to go back home. I would never keep you away from that." He paused. "But after about six months of sulking, I realized that I was never going to get anything done until I had you back to support me and advise me and laugh with me whenever I got too serious…"

"Zuko? Serious? _Never_ ," she quipped. "My Father's favorite story about you is when you got off your warship with your little bodyguards looking so grim and nervous—"

"Can you blame me?! The entire Southern Water Tribe was fully armed and waiting for me when I got there!"

"I wasn't armed and waiting."

"I think I would have felt better if you were, though preferably unarmed, of course."

"I was busy teaching a group of little visiting Northern Tribe water benders outside of the village! But I came running as soon as I saw the smoke."

An awkward silence fell between them. Neither of them said it, but they both knew exactly what the other was thinking.

It would take a long time to heal the scars that the Fire Nation had left on the world. The smoke of a Fire Navy ship struck terror in the hearts of many for years to come after the war. Even Katara couldn't help the pang of fear in her heart at the sight of smoke rising from her village.

Zuko cleared this throat and continued the story. "Your father looked ready to kill me, and then your Gran Gran just walked up to me, grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me down to tell me, 'No mistakes this time.' Then she just pushed me down and walked away!"

Katara dissolved into laughter, the sound vibrating through his back and sending a feeling of warmth straight to his heart. "Gran Gran was quite a woman, wasn't she?" she said. "I know you were terrified of her—"

"I wasn't terrified."

"—but she was the one who made me realize that I was meant for bigger things than just settling down in the South Pole, especially after we all went through so much during the war. I wanted to be a part of rebuilding, and I wanted to help create a new, better world."

"Well, I'm glad you chose to rebuild it with me," he murmured softly, twisting around to put his arms at the small of her back. She braced her hands on his chest and gazed up at him with those impossibly large, cobalt eyes.

"You definitely needed the help, and I guess I'm a sucker for fixer-uppers."

Zuko flashed a smirk. "I guess I was a bit of a mess before you, wasn't I?"

"You just needed a little rehabilitation, that's all," Katara insisted.

"It's a good thing you have such a soft spot for difficult teenagers. Especially since we have two of our own now. One is trying to rule the place and the other trying to burn it down. I can't imagine what we would do with another one," he mused.

Katara's face suddenly turned grave. "Listen… Zuko, I have some news."

Immediately, his eyebrows pulled downward in concern, seriousness eradicating all signs of playfulness. Katara smiled softly and reached up to smooth the frown lines in her husband's face. "What's the matter?" He asked.

"I wasn't sure until just recently, I mean, it's been so long and I didn't expect…"

"Katara, quit beating around the bush and tell me," Zuko demanded, holding her hand against his ruined cheek.

Her eyes swam with emotion as she whispered, "I think I'm pregnant."

Before Zuko even had time to react, a frantic knock at the door sent them springing apart. Zuko cleared his throat. "Come in," he called, rather impressed that his voice didn't give out.

Izumi rushed into his parents' bedroom. "I can't find Kairo."

"What?" gasped Katara.

Zuko's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean you can't find her?"

"I went to her room to make sure she was alright and I found a bunch of her stuff missing and no Kairo. Then I found this on the ground in the courtyard," he said gravely, holding up a small Fire Nation crown.

Katara reached for it and spoke reasonably, "She's always leaving this thing around. Are you sure she's not just clearing her mind somewhere on the grounds?"

Izumi shook his head. "I checked with all of the guards, and one of them said he saw her running from the palace a few hours ago."

"It's not like her to run away after something like this. Where could she have gone?" Zuko mused.

His son grimaced. "The village patrol guards also reported seeing a masked man carrying a woman on his back into one of the nearby villages. The two scouts they sent after him are still unconscious. I'm starting to think this is more than just a tantrum."

Katara flung her hands upward in exasperation. "And you didn't START with this information? My daughter could be in the middle of a kidnapping right now and we're all just standing here?" She snatched up her Water Tribe flask and marched toward the door. "I'm going after her!"

Zuko grabbed her arm, gently, but firmly. "Hold it right there, Katara."

She whirled around and smacked his hand away. "Don't you dare try to tell me not to go find my daughter just because I'm—" she cut herself off with a sharp glance at Izumi, "just because it's dangerous. Need I remind you of the _countless_ times I have saved your life over the years? I am perfectly capable of handling myself!" She said fiercely, face set and determined.

Zuko held his hands up in front of his chest in surrender. "I wasn't going to say that!" he insisted, voice a litter higher than usual. "I was going to tell you that I'm coming with you."


	8. Chapter 8: Secrets and Lies

**Chapter 8**

 _Secrets and Lies_

"How did you get into the Fire Lord's palace?"

"How did _you_ get into the Fire Lord's palace?"

"Where's your home?"

"Where's yours?"

"You burned down the room we were in so you must be a fire bender. How come I haven't really seen you bend?"

 _Because I suck at it._ "You made me fall off a cliff so you must be an earth bender. How come I haven't really seen _you_ bend?"

"Why did you run off by yourself to try and catch me?"

"Why did you come by yourself to steal the scrolls?"

Back and forth we volleyed question after question at one another, never actually giving an answer to any of them. Torrin and I were on the deck of the ship with our backs against the railing on opposite sides. He had a knee propped up and an arm slung across it, radiating lazy comfort and detachment.

I, on the other hand, was squirming around like crazy, trying and failing to find a comfortable way to sit on the hard wood of the ship.

We'd been traveling slowly for an hour or so. The gentle night air blew salty mist in my face, another slight discomfort keeping me from falling asleep.

"I have a question," he said, interrupting my shifting.

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because I was so confused as to what we've been doing so far..."

"Alright, snarky, I was just wondering how much you know about air travel."

"Air travel?" I was surprised at his interest. "That seems like an awfully conspicuous way to travel... not to mention it's super expensive and hard to come by. Why do you ask?"

He shrugged. "I've got some connections that may be able to get us access. It would make the journey across the Earth Kingdom a whole lot faster... but I've never operated something like that. I figured an educated Fire Nation brat like you might have a little more experience."

I ignored the jab, "I've flown in an airship before, and I've steered for a few seconds while we were getting a tour of the airship, but it's not like I became an expert or anything…"

"Do you at least know how to find someone to show us?"

 _As a matter of fact, my Uncle Sokka would be a fantastic choice! ... if not for the fact that he will probably be getting a messenger hawk any second informing him of my disappearance..._

I shook my head. "No, sorry."

"Well, do you think you could figure out the basics if you took a little time to fiddle with it on the ground?"

Embarrassment sent a flush to my face. " I've never been great with technology..."

"Could you do it with some sort of manual?"

"Yeahhhhh, I can't do that very well either. Manuals confuse me. I'm more of a hands-on learner."

"Is there anything you _can_ do very well?"

I thought for a moment. "I'm an excellent penguin-sledder."

Torrin smacked his forehead. "Well that's just incredibly useful here in the _Fire Nation_ where we're just _surrounded_ by penguins at all times."

Starting to feel a little insecure, I chose to let the conversation die and began inspecting my fingernails to avoid looking at him. The awkward silence stretched between us for long minutes. Finally, I broke it with a nonchalant inquiry of my own.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Why don't you tell me, 'master cartographer'?"

I scowled at him and turned my head, looking up at the vast array of stars glimmering above us. I knew we were going east, based on the constellations I recognized from my navigation classes. My mouth opened in preparation to tell him as much, when he cut me off and said, softly, "Don't you have a family that's going to wonder where you went?"

My heart gave a little tug. "Don't you?" I retorted. Once again, neither of us answered. This time, though, it was because the question hit too close to home to find the words.

I glanced down at him to find him looking at me with such concern, I wondered for a brief moment if he was about to apologize. Which would have been ridiculous. He didn't seem overly concerned about my family when he asked me to tag along in the first place! But now his eyebrows were pulled together, mouth set in a slight pout.

To give a little context, growing up in the Fire Nation's royal court meant that I didn't get a whole lot of exposure to people who wore their hearts on their sleeves. Most of the adults I met were composed, cool, collected, or else very passionately discussing something of intense import. Even the children I grew up with tended to be more blank-faced. The one child in particular that I spent most of my time with was Izumi, and Izumi was...Izumi.

Truthfully, the most dramatic face changes I ever witnessed always came from Mother. My mother was very expressive, with sparkling eyes that shone with emotion when she was deeply moved or incredibly sad. My father, on the other hand, was more or less the picture of a dedicated ruler, whose face never betrayed any sign of weakness. It was only because I knew and loved him so well that I could sense the emotions his subjects could not in the subtle tells of his features. I found a mixture of the two in myself. In general, I was most emotive when I was embarrassed. Which was often.

So watching Torrin's face morph from feeling to feeling was a unique and fascinating experience that I couldn't help but smile at.

The corner of my mouth tugged upwards ever so slightly as the thought occurred to me that maybe Torrin's masks weren't for intimidation, but to hide his blatantly expressive face.

"Tell me about your mask," I said, hoping the change in subject would clear up his seriousness.

It worked wonders, and his eyebrows ticked up playfully. "The panther one?"

I nodded and he hopped up to fetch it from its perch on a box to his left. "This one is my favorite. I've always thought that cats were very sly and mysterious—" I fought a scowl at the words, "—so this one spoke to me from the first time I laid eyes on it. I cycle through a bunch of them, of course, but for more covert missions involving…"

"Theft?" I supplied.

Torrin winked down at me, tossing the mask from hand to hand. "I like to think of it as 'artifact excavation'."

I snorted, a deeply unladylike sound that would undoubtedly make my mother cringe. "Excavation from what? My house?"

As soon as the words were out, I caught my mistake. His eyes took on a curious glint and they narrowed. "Your house?"

Trapped, my mind frantically raced to come up with something to explain, (which was hard to do when it kept shouting _IDIOT IDIOT IDIOT IDIOT!_ ). "You know… like… how you took the scrolls from… the kingdom I live in…"

He took a step toward me. "Yes, but why would that be taking from _your house_?" He pressed.

My ears were burning and I couldn't meet his eyes. I looked away and managed to compose myself enough to blurt out the first coherent excuse that came to mind.

"My family works in the palace." Not technically a lie.

"Hmm…" a moment passed, and I silently prayed that Torrin was taking the time to decide whether or not he believed me, not whether or not he should throw me overboard. I held my breath as he back down in his original position across from me. He sniffed. "No wonder you're so sheltered."

It took all of my self-control not to let out all of the air in my lungs in one huge sigh of relief. Based on the amused look on his open face, I couldn't fight the nagging feeling that he didn't truly believe me, but had chosen to let the issue slide for now.

Either way, it kept me on the ship and out of the ocean.

I cleared my throat. "How far are we expecting to travel tonight?" I asked, my voice just the teeniest bit higher than usual.

"We're heading as far as the Gates of Azulon tonight. From there we'll rendezvous with some friends of mine for some food and supplies."

I looked around us dubiously. "Because all of these crates won't be enough?"

He followed my gaze to the stacks of boxes strewn across the deck. "Oh, these? These aren't supplies. They're just some… excavated artifacts I picked up here and there."

I raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh. So we're off on a mysterious journey across the world with nothing but crates of stolen junk. Marvelous."

"Well, we also have a decent amount secrets and lies," he clarified with a meaningful look that I chose to ignore, "and a box full of masks." He winked.

I rolled my eyes. "And a box full of—ouch!"

Razor-like claws sliced across my thighs as a streak of midnight black danced across my vision. I hurtled to my feet in shock and instinctively held myself in a defensive pose. An image of Izumi on the training field popped into my mind. His voice echoed in my ears, ever the critic of my sloppy form.

 _"You're stance is too loose, Kai,"_ he would say. _"Left leg leading, knees slightly bent. Keep your right fist held at waist level, forearm straight like an arrow, ready to strike. Now left hand held out in front of your chest, ready to block."_

The problem was that, out here in the middle of the ocean, Izumi wasn't actually there to appreciate my perfect form. Instead, I got a whoop of laughter from behind me as Torrin wheezed, "What on earth was _that_?! You look like an idiot!"

My face burned. "Something just attacked me!" I refused to turn around to look at him and gazed alertly around the deck in search of the culprit.

Loud smacking against thick wood told me that Torrin was slapping the hull as he burst into a renewed laughing fit.

"A little paranoid are we, Tiny? If a little bird turns you into the Fire Nation Brigade every time it lands on deck, we're in for a looooong trip." He coughed violently as the giddy cackling subsided.

"That was no bird," I murmured under my breath, catching sight of a black, furry tail rounding the corner of the mast. A dreaded, sinking feeling filled my chest. I prayed with all of my might that I was wrong. _Please do not be what I think it is..._

And the one time I sincerely hoped to be wrong, I was dead on. From around the other side of the mast peered a small, pointy-eared face with yellow-green eyes full of malicious intent.

" _You_!" I screeched. The creature's ears flattened in protest.

Torrin stepped forward into my field of vision. He whipped his head to stare at me, then the cat, then back at me. "Oh good, I see you've met our stowaway. Care to introduce me?"

"Sure," I growled. "Torrin, meet my worst nightmare."

He bowed low to the little cretin. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Nightmare."

I firmly planted my hands on my hips and turned to him in frustration. "Don't you bow to that thing!" I said in shrilly. "We should throw it overboard while we still have the chance!"

 _Whoa, that voice sounded so much like Mother_ … I thought suddenly, and instantly I folded my arms in front of my chest. My mother's hands-on-hips and admonishing tone were a rare and frightening thing in my household. I thanked the heavens that Izumi wasn't there to witness my unintentional imitation.

Torrin gasped theatrically. "You monster! How could you do something so barbaric to an innocent creature!" He placed his hand on his chest and fanned his face with his other palm like a simpering maiden.

"Trust me, this thing is anything but innocent," I grumbled, glaring at the cat. As usual, it was haughtily ignoring me and regally grooming itself. It was maddening.

"Well, I think she's cute, so she's definitely not going for a swim tonight," Torrin told me firmly as he walked over to it, picking it up and cradling it in his arms. It purred softly as he ran his hand over its back.

And I swear on my great-uncle's grave that little devil winked at me.


	9. Chapter 9: Mysterious Cabbage Man

**Chapter 9**

 _Mysterious Cabbage Man_

"Excuse me, did you just tell me to _stay put_?" I demanded as Torrin hopped out of the boat and confidently strolled across the dock, a crate of mystery items in his arms.

He turned around, eyebrows raised and smiling innocently, like he hadn't a care in the world. If not for the mischievous glint in his green eyes, I might have thought he didn't realize how not-okay I would be with this situation.

"Bazir's a little skittish around strangers, especially Fire Nation ones with scary eyes," he said. My "scary eyes" narrowed even further.

"I'll be back in a minute for more stuff, don't burn down the boat while I'm gone!"

I rolled my eyes. "Would you have a little faith? I'm not going to burn anything down," I grumbled.

 _Well, not_ _again_.

We had made it to the gates of Azulon in good time, (though I still hated every minute of the journey with that evil cat onboard…) and had quietly docked the boat about a mile from the statue along the northern coast.

When I'd asked him where we were supposed to meet up with his friend, he just laughed and shrugged off the question. I got the impression that he didn't quite trust me enough to fill me in on his secret rendezvous locations and hideouts yet. Which was fair, I didn't even trust him enough yet to tell him my real name.

I sighed and folded my arms, tapping my foot against the deck. Back and forth, Torrin came to grab a crate and cart it off into the night, never allowing me to help or telling me where he was taking it. Finally, after he'd grabbed the last box, he told me he was going to meet his friend. I watched him jump into the sand of the beach and walk along the shore out of sight. Minutes ticked by.

I was really struggling to stop myself from overthinking in the silence and solitude. My mind circled around the millions of reasons why I was making a terrible decision in leaving with this total stranger, a _delinquent_ stranger at that.

 _It's not too late to go back home,_ my treacherous mind whispered. _You could just step onto the dock and walk away right now, apologize to your family, and pretend this never happened._

"Yeah, and go back to being the nation's most underwhelming royal," I muttered darkly to myself.

When I thought I might go insane from self-doubt, I marched away from the dock and threw open the doors leading to the cabin.

"What the—" came a surprised nasal voice.

"AHH!" I shrieked in surprise. I instinctively jumped backwards just as the devil-cat himself came flying toward me, shrieking manically at the unfolding chaos. My foot slid forward and I fell backward, _hard_ , on my backside. The cat streaked past me and disappeared behind a crate.

I sat there, stunned.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one.

An old man was sitting in front of the ship's steering wheel in the center of the small cabin, blinking at me as though he wasn't quite sure what he was looking at. He had wild grey hair that matched the color of his eyes. His skin was tanned and leathery, and he was wearing plain Earth Kingdom casual-wear that reminded me of the vendors we'd seen when my family and I had gone to visit the colonies.

"Can I help you?" he asked me after we'd stared at one another for several awkward seconds.

"Uh, yeah, so… who are you?" I spluttered.

"I'm the captain." He replied.

"The captain," I repeated.

"That's right." He nodded.

"Of this boat," I clarified.

"Yes, of course!" He sniffed.

"And you've been here the whole time?" I asked.

"Well of course I have! Did you think this thing was just steering itself?" the old man laughed, and my stupor was broken instantly at the sound.

I felt the telltale signs of my embarrassment spreading warmth to my ears. "I guess I hadn't really thought about it all that much… I don't spend a whole lot of time on the ocean…" I admitted sheepishly.

He barked a harsh "HA!" in response. "No kidding." He turned his back to me and slowly bent to retrieve a large bag from where it waited in a heap at his feet. I assumed he'd dropped it in surprise when I'd barged in earlier.

"Here, let me get that," I offered and shouldered the pack for him. Something round and green rolled out of it and I bent to fetch it. "Is this a… cabbage?"

He looked affronted at the question. "Of course it is! What else would it be, a monkey?"

"I just meant… um, nevermind." I handed the man back his cabbage, feeling a little flustered now. "So, uh, what's your name?" I sheepishly inquired.

He snorted. "In my line of work, my dear, I find it best not to answer that question."

"You're line of work, huh?" I asked in a sardonic tone.

He nodded gravely. "Yes. I used to be a cabbage salesman, but now I'm far too old for such a dangerous job. Now I do a bit of travelling."

"And everyone knows you're not supposed to tell anyone your name when you travel," I said sarcastically before I could stop myself. I bit my lip, regretting my attitude.

The old man just grinned wryly. "And it's probably wise not to ask for names, either, because the clever ones will lie to you, and the stupid ones will get you into trouble." He paused for a beat, thoughtfully. "I'm not even going to ask you, because I think you might be a bit of both."

A smile tugged at my lips at that. "You're not wrong."

We approached the gangplank of the ship leading to the dock. "Where are you going?" I asked the old man as he gently took his pack from my arms and made his way across it. I bounded over to him once he'd safely made it to the solid wood of the pier.

He winked at me and shrugged. "I'll figure it out once I get there!"

"But Torrin—"

He waved my words away with an impatient, veiny hand. "Bah, don't you worry about that. Torrin paid me enough to get you to the Great Gates, and that's what I did. Now I'm off!"

"Wait, but—"

The sound of approaching footsteps abruptly cut me off and the two of us looked down at the sandy beach where Torrin's lanky figure was stalking toward us, practically sizzling with angry energy.

He stomped up to the pier and climbed up it effortlessly. Then he brushed past the old man and I, without a single word or glance in our direction. We exchanged bewildered looks.

"Good luck with that one, missy," he whispered from behind the back of his hand in a theatrical gesture. "He's a passionate fellow, and sometimes his emotions get the better of him."

I bowed to him. "Thank you, I'll do my best to keep up with him."

The old man nodded and set off toward the small hill leading to the village.

"Good luck!" I called to him.

"I don't believe in it!" He waved without glancing back at me.

Suddenly, boat gave a lurch and I barely had time to jump back off of the dock and onto the deck before we were sailing toward the gates.

Irritated, I marched into the cabin where Tobin was steering and glaring at the waves. "What is wrong with you? Why are you suddenly in such a hurry?"

He didn't answer, just shoved a crumpled piece of paper into my hands.

 _Torrin-_

 _Sorry old friend, I couldn't stick around. Client waiting in Ba Sing Se. You can leave the cargo in the hideout here and I'll get your payment once you make your way here. Shuron has everything you need in Colonies. Good luck!_

 _-Bazir_


	10. Chapter 10: Ship Goes Down

**Chapter 10**

 _Ship Goes Down_

News usually travelled very fast in my world. Cautious generals and gossipy nobles were always buzzing with the latest information. I could always count on the court of the Fire Nation to spread news like, well, fire.

Which was why I was on the verge of panic, wondering why no alarms had been raised by my absence. Despite all of my self-depreciative humor, I am realistic enough to know that the disappearance of the Fire Princess, no matter how much of a screw-up she may be, would send most of the Fire Nation into a frenzy in minutes.

Torrin and I glided unimpeded through the Great Gates of Azulon after Torrin presented some paperwork (which I thought was questionable) to the sentry my father had posted at the base of Azulon's statue. The lack of opposition was not just suspicious; it was ominous.

But still, the waters were calm and empty as we rolled along peacefully and quietly.

Well, maybe not entirely peacefully.

Torrin had been in a terrible mood for the past few hours. After trying to engage him in conversation multiple times, only to be met with glowering and snippy remarks, I abandoned him to sulk in the dark cabin while I got some sleep.

When I woke up again, it was mid-morning. I stretched and yawned from my bedroll on the deck and my knuckle touched something cold and wet.

The cold, wet thing yowled.

"Did I just see you punch that cat?" came an incredulous voice from above me.

I bolted upright, blinking rapidly and squinting against the harsh sunlight. For a moment, I felt nothing but sheer panic at my unfamiliar surroundings. _Where am I? How did I get here? What cat?_

And then it all came flooding back to me.

Especially the parts with the cat.

I groaned and rubbed my hands over my face.

"So, are you this cruel to all animals? Or is it just cats? Or is this part of some weird Fire Nation custom where you all wake up and have to punch a cat before breakfast?"

"Shut up. You're ridiculous," I grumbled. I shimmied out of my bedding and squinted up at him with a hand shielding my eyes from the harsh glare of the sun… and his hugely sunny smile. "You seem like you're in a better mood today," I muttered, then grimaced. _That was not, perhaps, the most tactful thing to say…_

Torrin laughed. "Well you seem like you soaked up all of the grumpy, so it evens out." He held out a hand to help me up and I took it, staggering a little as I got to my unsteady feet. I looked around.

"Where are we?"

"Heading to the Fire Nation Colonies that are no longer the Fire Nation Colonies but no one knows what to call them yet so everyone still calls them the Fire Nation Colonies."

I shook my head. "That was way too many words for the morning. Actually, it was too many words for any time of day."

Torrin beamed at me. He had changed out of his stealthy green-black costume and had put on a breezy Earth Kingdom green tunic. It suited him better, I thought, but would never tell him. I'd only known him a day and could already tell that his ego was big enough as it was.

That thought made me pause. I'd only known him a day and yet here I was, traveling across the ocean with him. Anyone else would have jumped overboard the first chance they got, but I couldn't fight the growing feeling in my chest. Excitement, adrenaline, daring, and just a hint of insatiable curiosity were waiting on that boat, and I wasn't about to let it sail away without me.

I had no regrets.

…Until I turned and saw a speck in the distance. A Fire Nation messenger hawk was speeding toward us with a rolled up message clutched in its talons. Dread pooled in my stomach and the blood fled from my face, rendering me even more pale than usual.

"What is it?" Torrin asked, face conveying the utmost concentration and concern.

I pointed at the bird. "That's a Fire Nation hawk. If it found us, the army can't be far behind…" My arm trailed downward and settled on a distant smokestack coming into view from behind the hawk.

Torrin scoffed. "They're not gonna send an entire army after us for a few scrolls."

 _They would for a princess_ , I thought. "You'd be surprised how seriously they take stealing property from the Fire Lord," I said, choosing to watch the approaching hawk instead of meeting his eyes.

Sure enough, the hawk landed on my outstretched arm just as a Fire Nation Navy ship finally came into view. Torrin stiffened and jumped into action. He flew into the cabin with me hot on his heels.

"That's a Fire Navy ship," I reminded him. "There's no way we can outrun it in this thing."

"We're close enough to the shore, we'll just have to outrun them long enough to get on dry land, then I'll take care of them," his voice took on a harsh and dark tone that I didn't like, but wasn't about to waste time arguing with.

"So you admit you _are_ an earth bender?"

"Is right now really the time for this?"

I shook my head. "Right, sorry." I looked through the class of the cabin windows at the shore of the Earth Kingdom coming into view, then back over my shoulder through the open door at the gaining Fire Nation soldiers. "We won't make it to shore in time," I said, "but maybe we can find some… There!" I cried, pointing to a set of enormous boulders side-by-side a little ways ahead of us. "Head for that spot right there!"

"Uhhh, I don't know if you know how earth bending works, but I kinda have to be close enough to the earth for me to bend it, and at this speed, I think we'll be getting a lot more than a friendly tap," Torrin said, pulling at the collar of his tunic nervously as he gazed out at the rocks.

"Just trust me and go above deck! Secure anything that might fall, this could get a _little_ rough…" He obeyed reluctantly and I held the wheel steady as we headed for the rocky shoreline.

The two towering boulders were set just far apart enough for a tiny little boat to fit through. Was our boat tiny enough?

"I guess it's gonna have to be," I muttered through gritted teeth and aimed the ship for the crack between them.

It didn't take long for me to realize that we definitely were not tiny enough, but by then it was too late to turn back, so I raced out of the cabin and yelled, "Brace for impact!" I threw myself onto the ground over my pack of supplies just as the boat smashed into the rocks, splintering the wood on the hull and sending some fishing tools tumbling over the edge into the water.

"You're insane!" screeched Torrin.

"Well you can touch them now!" I screeched back. "You're welcome!"

He grumbled something I probably wasn't supposed to hear and ran up to the part of the boat that had become one with the boulders and put his hands on the rock. He let out a loud grunt of effort and a jagged slice appeared in the earth at his fingertips, cutting the rock in half. He took a step back and raised his hands in the air. The top half of the boulder followed his movements and rose up. Then he turned and threw his arms forward with so much force, he nearly knocked himself off of his feet.

My jaw dropped as the enormous rock sailed through the air and crashed with a deafening CRUNCH into the Fire Navy Ship, breaking a hole through the tough metal of the hull. Immediately, the ship slowed to a stop and soldiers raced to the edge of the ship to inspect the damage. Clearly, they hadn't expected opposition like this.

I whipped my head back at Torrin, extremely impressed and slightly terrified. "Well, that's one way to do it," I mumbled.

He had already turned back to the rock, where he placed his fist and pushed, shifting the earth to move away from what was left of our ship and let us pass through.

The tide carried the boat to shore, where we tumbled onto the sand and took a moment to gaze at the carcass that slowly toppled sideways before us. The entire left side had been scraped clean off, leaving a gaping hole in its place. The other side was more splinters than planks now, and the cabin windows had been shattered. Crates and boxes were either floating in the ocean, snuggled in the sand, or else precariously balanced against the lip of the now almost sideways deck.

Torrin and I made eye contact. Then we shrugged and got to work.

We collected everything we could and shoved them into our bulging packs. Food, clothes, canteens, and a few other essential items were all we were able to keep. The rest of Torrin's masks, other than the two we'd chosen, and his remaining contraband had to be abandoned on the sand.

We bolted away from the beach toward the mountain pass. Before we got too far, I turned back and gazed at the distant Fire Nation soldiers who were scurrying around in the sand, trying to find us and repair their ruined ship.

"Come on, Tiny!" called Torrin.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" I called back. I turned around and jogged to catch up with him, which was no easy feat with his long legs propelling him forward at twice my pace.

"I told you I wouldn't burn down the ship," I told him after we'd rounded the bend in the mountain and were out of sight of the soldiers on the beach.

He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at me in utter bewilderment. "That's because you crashed it into a _bunch of giant rocks_!"

Conjuring up my best look of innocence, I looked up at him sweetly and said, "But I didn't set it on fire!"


	11. Chapter 11: Hunted

**Chapter 11**

 _Hunted_

"This is kinda cute," I said happily as we strolled through the small Earth Kingdom village. It was a tiny little town on the coast, and I couldn't tell if it was simply because it was the first village I'd been to outside of the Fire Nation without an armed escort, but I thought it was the most friendly and inviting place in the world.

Torrin shrugged. He glanced around appraisingly, "Yeah, I guess."

We'd been travelling for an entire day now, only stopping for food and rest when we needed to. I wanted to put as much distance between us and the soldiers on the beach, but I couldn't help but think that Torrin was driving us onward at a _brutal_ pace. He was eager to get to the Colonies, where a "friend" of his would be waiting with new information. I hoped this friend would be a little more reliable than the one we'd met at the Gates of Azulon, but I didn't want to put Torrin in a bad mood by bringing it up, so I said nothing about it.

"Let's grab what we need and move on," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "You are so keen to waste time pampering a devil-cat, but you refuse to slow down and let me take a look around! Selfish…"

He grunted, but a smile warred with the impatience on his face. Unfortunately, the cat had been unharmed in the crash and resurfaced from Torrin's pack later that night, just to hiss in my face and mock me with its impossibly good fortune.

"Fine, I guess things have been surprisingly quiet for a while, so we can take _one_ spare minute to check it out."

Grinning, I stepped up to a fruit vendor parked outside of a quaint little building and asked her about the fruit she had displayed. I'd never been to a market like this before, and even though Torrin sniggered at my delight over such a common thing, I was determined to enjoy every minute.

Unfortunately, I only had time to bite into one newly purchased lychee nut when our temporary reprieve from disaster evaporated.

A nearby scream caught my attention and I turned in time to witness an enormous brown creature, a little larger than a Fire Nation rhino, with a pink, fleshy, starred nose and no eyes crash into a cabbage cart. Atop the large mammal sat a woman, dressed in black and holding a long whip.

She was beautiful in a terrifying way. Jet black hair half-pulled into a top knot and falling over half of her face mysteriously, dark maroon-colored lips, and black eyes gleaming with a hunger that sent chills down my spine… this woman was something to behold. Her face was pale and beginning to show small lines around her eyes and mouth. I would have guessed she was in her forties, but the unfathomable strength that radiated off of her said she may just be immortal.

"Is that a shirshu?" Torrin whispered in awe and confusion.

Cold dread pooled in my stomach as I recalled the stories my parents had told me about a terrifying beast with a paralytic tongue and a supersonic nose.

The rider's mouth ticked upwards in a smirk and she cracked her whip in response. The shirshu reared upwards and opened its mouth to launch a spiked tongue directly at my stunned, stupid face.

"Ira!" shouted Torrin.

Time seemed to slow for a moment.

I watched, dumbfounded, as Torrin barreled toward me. For the briefest moment, I thought he was about to throw himself in front of me to take the hit. My heart thundered to a stop as he hurtled through the air…

And then he slammed into me and knocked the both of us painfully to the ground.

"Are you an idiot?!" He shouted in my ear. "Why didn't you move?"

 _Right. Calm down, hormones._

Villagers were running left and right in panic and confusion. "Alright Nyla, which one of these little girls is our runaway?" the woman crooned from her ferocious animal in a sultry voice that at last made the name click into place. _June, the bounty hunter._

"Uh-oh", I breathed, rising and latching onto Torrin's arm and yanking him around the building with me in a dead-run. _I guess news has travelled fast..._

"She a friend of yours?" He shouted as we rounded the corner.

"Uhhhhh…" I took a hurried step forward on instinct and heard a loud _smack_ from behind me, telling me that I had narrowly avoided contact with the beast's poisonous tongue. "Not exactly."

I heard a rumble of earth and glanced over my shoulder to see Torrin raising a wall of dirt with a surge of his free hand. The beast and rider were momentarily halted, but a split-second later, they had rounded the obstruction and were hot on our trail again.

"Do you know why she's after us?"

"Well, I know she's a bounty hunter…"

"How do you know that?" He smashed his shoulder against me and we tumbled to the ground, narrowly avoiding another flick of the shirshu's tongue.

"She's, uh, acquainted with my parents," I told him, rolling out from underneath him to hop back up and run.

" _Aquainted_ …" he mumbled. "Her majesty is _acquainted_ with the bounty hunter, yes of course," he mocked in a haughty tone as he broke back into a sprint.

I stumbled a bit at the word "majesty" and nearly face-planted. " _What?"_

"Oh, _now_ you get upset about my teasing, Tiny?! Just shut up and run!"

I would have loved to do just that, I really would. But I could only take so much zig-zagging, and I had short legs that made distance running about as easy as reaching the top shelf for me. We were well outside of the village by now, bobbing and weaving through the trees. I struggled to catch my breath and was legitimately considering letting the monster get me so I wouldn't have to run anymore, when I heard the distant rumble of running water.

"Torrin…" _wheeze,_ "I have…" _pan_ t, "an idea…"

I veered off to the right just as June and Nyla lunged, coming to a rest in the exact spot I had just vacated. Torrin shoved an open palm toward the ground at the animal's claws and instantly, they were embedded in rock, trapped. The tongue was still lashing out at him violently, and I nearly screamed as it nicked the corner of his tunic, but miraculously avoided hitting skin.

"This way!" I called to him, and he rolled around the bounty hunter to come racing after me. June cracked her whip at him. He let out a yelp of pain as it lanced across the skin on his shoulder, but he surged forward, ignoring it.

"Where are we going? That thing is using its sense of smell to find us, there's no way we can lose it!" he shouted at me.

"Oh yes there is!" I called back.

We burst out of the trees and onto a patch of ground overhanging a roaring river about 20 feet below. By heart pounded in my ears as I headed straight for it. Before I could get close, however, Torrin grabbed my arm and swung me around to a grinding halt.

"Have you lost your mind?!" He bellowed.

I narrowed my eyes at him, gasping for breath. "Do you have a better idea?" I demanded.

A roar shook the birds from the trees behind us and we both jumped. Thundering footsteps were approaching, and we both looked at each other with terror. June had gotten free.

Without a word, we took off toward the cliff.

My mind raced faster than my feet as we covered the distance to the river.

 _Don't be scared, you can swim._

Fifteen feet to go.

 _It's just a baby cliff._

Ten feet to go.

 _Everything will be fine._ _It's more like a ledge, anyway_.

Five feet.

 _This is a great idea._

Four.

 _Is this is a great idea?_

Three.

 _Oh no, this is a terrible idea._

Two.

 _Oh well, too late to stop now!_

One.

 _Well, it's not the worst way to die._

Together, Torrin and I surged into the open air. I felt a whoosh of air slide past my ear as Nyla attempted to land one last hit.

Then we were hurtling toward the water.

 _It's really too bad I can't water bend._


	12. Chapter 12: Bending Over Backwards

**Chapter 12**

 _Bending Over Backwards_

 _Smack! Smack! Smack!_

A painful thumping across my back was what brought me around. I regained consciousness to find myself lying on my side on a riverbank as someone slammed a palm against me with unnecessary force. I coughed violently and a stream of water wrenched itself from my lungs. I took a gasping breath.

"Stop, stop!" I wheezed through my tight, burning throat.

The thumping subsided at last and I rolled onto my back and turned to look over at a sopping-wet Torrin. His hair was dripping into his eyes, which were red and concerned. Catching my eye, his expression dissolved into that impossibly wide grin and he chuckled a little.

"You are a mad genius, Ira."

Rolling my eyes, I turned my head to gaze up at the cloudless sky and brought my knees up to lie comfortably on the blessed solid ground. Beside me, I heard the rustle of movement and wet clothes as Torrin got up from the ground. I opened an eye to peer at him, praying he wouldn't make me get up just yet.

He was hopping from foot to foot and shaking himself off like a wet dog. He glanced down at me. "You know, this would be a great opportunity for some fire bending to help us warm up and dry off…"

I grimaced. "Uhhhh, about that…"

He laughed and plopped back down next to me. I propped myself onto my elbows and looked at the ground in discomfort. "Oh come on," he said, "don't tell me you aren't a fire bender. I saw the war room. I showed you mine…" he said, leaning down to force my eyes to meet his and waggling his eyebrows.

Again, I rolled my eyes and pushed myself into an upright position to shove at his shoulder. He just laughed and looked at me expectantly.

"Technically, I am a fire bender," I began.

"Great! Then let's do this."

I sighed. "It's not exactly… It's just that I… So look, technically I can bend, but it's not really my strong suit so…" As I blathered on and on, Torrin's eyebrows travelled further up his face.

"Are you telling me you can fire bend, or you can't?"

I tried to keep my face composed despite the horrible shame twisting in my stomach, like I usually did in these situations at the palace. "Both?" I offered.

He just blinked at me blankly. "Well that's not very helpful."

I recoiled from the statement and struggled to my feet. I brushed off the excess water and dirt coating my pants and tunic. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful. It's not like I just saved our lives from a bounty hunter or anything. I'll get right to work on improving my fire bending skills just so you won't get the sniffles—" I snapped at him bitterly.

Torrin jumped up and waved his hands in front of himself defensively. "Whoa there, I didn't mean to offend you. I'm sorry if I touched a nerve there, I was just thinking… nevermind."

I turned my attention to squeezing the water from my hair, ignoring him.

He coughed uncomfortably. "So, um, do you think we lost the shirshu?"

I shrugged and squinted back at the river. "I doubt it, the water probably didn't wash away that much of our scent, and she can just track us along the river. We should get moving before she catches up."

He huffed. "Too bad we lost so many of our supplies. All we've got are our packs now; all the food and stuff we got at the market is long gone. And all of our scrolls and everything are soaking wet. We'll have to find somewhere to dry them out when we get far enough away."

Internally, I breathed a sigh of relief at hearing that my pack wasn't lost to the current. If my pack was intact, so was all the money I'd hidden in there. Of course, Izumi had trained me to be prepared for anything, so I always kept a few coins hidden on me just in case, alongside Father's knife. I patted my waist to reassure myself that it was still there. _Thank heavens…_

"Well, lets move on, I guess," Torrin said with renewed vigor. "We can dry off as we walk! Who needs fire bending, right?" He looked over at me with a light smile, hoping to make amends. I couldn't help but give him a little smile back.

. . .

"This is it. This is where I die. Torrin… please… tell my story…" I wheezed as I collapsed onto the ground.

"Ira. We've been walking for twenty minutes."

"Nononono, we've been walking for at least a few hours."

"Mmm nope, I'm pretty sure it's only been twenty minutes."

"But it's all been _uphilllll_..."

"For _twenty minutes_."

I groaned and fell forward onto my knees. I wasn't trained for rock-climbing, and clambering up the incline of this evil hill with wet clothes and hair and heavy pack felt impossible after only twenty minutes. Meanwhile, Torrin was just trucking along, helped by the subtle nudge of the earth beneath his feet ( _cheater_ ) and his impossibly long legs.

Needless to say, I was struggling to keep up.

I glanced up at him and squinted against the glare of the sun. It was the first time I'd looked at him since we'd begun the uphill climb, and I was surprised to see him frowning. Instantly, I stood up.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He flashed a fake smile that didn't quite meet his eyes. "Nothing, you good to keep going?"

I put my hands on my hips and stared him down. "Torrin, something is wrong. Now spill."

He grimaced. "The bounty hunter may have clipped me with her whip…" he admitted in a nonchalant tone.

My eyebrows rose so I, I feared they may fly off of my forehead. "That's right! I forgot I saw the whip…" I rushed forward and tugged at his tunic. "Let me see." I demanded.

Torrin grabbed my hands and smirked down at me. "My, my, someone's feeling awfully forward today…" he murmured. My face burned and I looked down at my trapped hands before yanking them away and turning my back, folding my arms defensively.

"Fine, then you take off your shirt yourself. We need to make sure it's not going to get infected, and you can't see it so you have to show me."

"Excuses, excuses…" he muttered, but the sound of wet fabric told me he had obeyed. I turned back around.

His back was marred by an angry red line cutting diagonally across his skin from his right shoulder to just past his spine above his left hip. It didn't look like it was bleeding anymore, but the skin around it was slightly red. I raised my hand and held it above the injury to gage the temperature like my mother had shown me. It was radiating heat. Not a good sign.

"Uh, we should probably get you some sort of salve or something for your back," I said in a falsely light tone. "Go ahead and put your shirt back on and let's get back to a village."

He grinned. "Sure, I'll put it _back_ on and we can get _back_ to getting something for my _back_." He slipped his tunic over his head.

I rolled my eyes and mumbled, "You're impossible."

He winked. "Right _back_ -atcha!"

I ignored him and began marching back up the hill, ignoring the burning in my thighs.

"Hey, Ira?" He called and I turned back to look at Torrin, who hadn't yet moved from his spot and was sliding a strap of his pack over his good shoulder.

I raised an eyebrow expectantly.

His grin grew wider. "Thanks for having my _back_."


	13. Chapter 13: The Rebellion

**Chapter 13**

 _The Rebellion_

"Do you know where you're going?" I asked for the hundredth time as we came upon an unfamiliar forest.

Torrin sighed, but held the map a little higher so that I couldn't see it. I cursed the several feet he had on my small height. "Yes, Ira, I do."

An idea struck, and I jumped in front of him and bent low, craning my neck to catch a glimpse of the map from below where the sunlight showed a distinct image of the ink on the page. Sadly, I didn't have nearly enough time to make any sense of what I saw before Torrin snatched it up and tucked it back into his pack, now completely dry from the long walk in the sun.

"We're almost there, Tiny. It's just through those trees," he said in an admonishing, parent-like tone.

" _What's_ just through those trees?"

"The Rebellion."

I stopped in my tracks. "The _what_?"

Torrin sighed, but didn't stop his pace. I hurried to catch up and he explained, "The Rebellion. It's a group of people from the Ex-Fire Nation Colonies and the Earth Kingdom who have banded together to overthrow the monarchy." My face drained of color and my hands went cold. "They are sick of being casualties of corruption and war and they don't want to be governed by rulers anymore, not the Fire Lord, not the Earth Kings, no one but themselves."

My stomach churned. One the one hand, I understood these beliefs and couldn't help but admire these people for fighting for a change, especially when their concerns were valid, based on recent history. On the other hand, these were the people responsible for uprisings and rebellions in my nation against my own family. For months now, my parents and Aang had been constantly meeting and worrying over the unrest in the Ex-Colonies. I hadn't seen my Uncle Sokka in years because of the trouble oversees. Now, I was heading straight into their headquarters.

Then, a new and even more unsettling thought dawned on me. What if someone recognized me?

But then I glanced at Torrin's back and saw a faint, red line appearing on the fabric of his tunic. He was in more pain than he was letting on, and I couldn't let him suffer without proper medicine and care because of my fears. So, together, Torrin and I marched through the trees and into a Rebellion base-camp.

. . .

"Torrin! It's so good to see you! How have you been?"

"Hey, Torrin! It's been a while, man."

"Look who's back, Mom! It's Torrin!"

Stranger after stranger called out to us as we made our way through the large, green tents scattered across a large clearing in the trees. Hundreds of people were milling about, going about their business until they saw Torrin strolling into camp. I fought the urge to roll my eyes as a young girl dissolved intro giggles after he tossed a wink her way when we passed. I had never felt so much like royalty than that moment, walking beside Torrin among his admirers… and I actually was royalty!

We weaved through the tents, traveling deeper into the camp until we came to a stop at the largest one in the center of the camp. The tent had an unfamiliar insignia on it, a swirl surrounded by curving spires that looked almost like the Fire Nation symbol, and straight down the center was an arrow.

Torrin pulled up short abruptly and I crashed into him. He winced and I began profusely apologizing, but he cut me off with an apologetic look of his own. "Listen, I'm going in to talk to a friend of mine. He doesn't really—"

I lifted my eyes skyward in exasperation. "He doesn't really like strangers. I got it. I'll wait here."

He smiled thoughtfully at me, then abruptly led me away from the tent by the shoulder. He was craning his neck as though searching for someone. His eyes landed on the giggling girl from before and he bounded up to her. I held back, having no desire to third-wheel him flirting.

I tried to ignore the stares and whispers of the people moving around the campsite while he chatted. I wished I'd worn my mask. I was just about to reach into my pack and pull it out when Torrin came bounding back to me. He wrapped an arm around me and I staggered, caught off-guard.

"Great news! They've got some dry clothes and extra supplies for us, and there's room for us in some tents for the night."

He steered me away and headed for the opposite end of the campsite. He dropped me off in front of a tent where two teenage girls were idly chatting. Another girl with braided brown hair and large, wide brown eyes skipped over to meet us with a pile of clothes in her hands. She held them out to me, beaming. "These are for you!" she said. I looked down at my muddy black Fire Nation uniform, then at the dark green fabric in her arms. Feeling a little unsure, I took them from her with a weak smile.

"Go in and change, I'll be back to set up my own tent nearby once I get out of these rags," Torrin told me with a pat on my shoulder. He turned and cantered away.

"Go get your back looked at first!" I called after him, but he had already dashed out of sight.

After I'd changed and dropped my ruined clothing into a basket of dirty laundry inside the tent, I peered outside and squinted against the noonday sun. I left my pack in the tent, save for a few coins, my knife, and my canteen. As I stepped out of the tent, I caught sight of the group of girls huddled in a circle on the grass a few feet away. The one with the braids in the middle was holding something that was clearly very interesting to them. Intrigued, I moseyed over to them.

"Isn't he the most handsome thing you've ever seen?" One of them was whispering.

"I think it's the eyes. They're just so…intense!" Another giggled.

I tried to peer over their shoulders to catch what they were looking at. Of course, I could have just asked, but making friends with girls my age wasn't exactly my strong suit…

I choked when I saw what it was.

My brother's face stared up at me from a portrait labeled " _Fire Prince Izumi_ " in elaborate calligraphy down the side. The girl holding the picture turned, hearing my distressed noise. Her face brightened.

"Oh, hey! You're that girl that Torrin brought, aren't you?" she asked in a friendly tone. She was the girl who had given me the clothes. She had two long chestnut braids framing her round olive-toned face. Her brown eyes were large and wide, giving her an adorable look of innocence. Her companions turned to look at me, the silky black-haired one with suspicious dark eyes, the other with a mischievous expression under clean-cut red bangs.

I nodded.

They widened their circle to include me, and the brown-eyed girl handed me the poster. "We were just fawning a little bit over this little cutie!" She squealed.

"Izumi?" I asked incredulously.

"Wait, you know him?!" The dark-haired one demanded.

I squirmed a little, unsure of what I could say that wouldn't reveal too much. Just then, Torrin rounded a tent and caught sight of me, sauntering over to our huddle.

"Uh, we've met. I'm in his sister's class. I guess you could say we're pretty close." I almost smiled at the clever evasion, then took a swig from my canteen of water to give myself something to do with my nervous hands. Unfortunately, the brown-eyed girl wildly misinterpreted my expression.

Her jaw dropped. "Oh my goodness, are you two dating?"

I choked and spewed water all over myself. My eyes watered as I coughed violently. A chorus of squeals met my humiliating show of embarrassment.

"I totally knew it! This is so great, you have to tell us absolutely everything!"

"You've got it all wrong," I choked out. Wiping the tears from my eyes, my gaze landed on Torrin, who had stopped a little ways away from us by a tent and was fiddling with the rain-cover. I suspected that it was just an excuse to eavesdrop, and suddenly this conversation escalated from uncomfortable to unbearable.

"Oh no you don't," said one of the girls. "Now we know you're little secret you have to tell us all about the fire prince!"

"I'm Lyn, by the way," interrupted Brown-Eyes.

"Maya," said the red-head.

"Jan Li." The last girl nodded, now regarding me with a warmer look of intrigue.

"So… is he as cute in person as he is in his posters?" demanded Lyn, shoving the picture into my hands. I studied it and shrugged.

"Yeah, this picture is pretty accurate. He's usually frowning a little more, though," I said affectionately. The girls squealed in excitement.

"Ooh, I love the dark and brooding look!" sang Maya.

"What's he like in person?" Jan Li pressed. "Is he as smart and talented as they say?"

 _Who exactly is saying all these things?_ I wondered silently. But I just shrugged and said, "I guess. He's pretty much a prodigy at everything he does, actually." I thought for a moment, and then added, "Except for Pai Sho. That's the one thing he's terrible at. It drives him nuts!" I laughed, remembering his disgruntled expression the last time I'd soundly beaten him at the game of tiles.

"Awwww! You two must make the cutest couple!" Lyn sighed. I laughed uncomfortably, blushing beet-red, which only added fuel to their fire.

"Hey, why are you guys so… enamored of my— of Izumi when the whole reason you're here is to undermine the Fire Royalty?" I tentatively wondered, hoping I wasn't overstepping in my curiosity.

"Someone's got a fancy vocabulary…" muttered Jan Li, but Lyn ignored her and rushed to answer.

"Sure, our families want to live free of any sort of ruler, but that doesn't mean we have anything against the prince _personally_ ," she said, beaming. "I wouldn't want to join the monarchy, but I wouldn't say no if Prince Izumi asked me out to dinner!"

The girls shrieked and Jan Li smacked Lyn's shoulder in protest.

"Seriously, though. I'm so jealous of you… wait, what's your name?" asked Maya, turning to me with a look of befuddlement.

"Uh, I'm Ira."

"Well, Ira, you must be the luckiest girl alive," she sighed. I barked out an irreverent laugh. "No, really!" she insisted.

 _If only she knew…_

"Now that you mention it, I think you're really onto something, Maya…" mused Jan Li with an appraising look at me. "You left the Fire Prince back at home and came over to the Rebellion with Torrin, the hottest thing outside of the Fire Nation…" The girls cackled with laughter. I rolled my eyes, just imagining how pleased with himself Torrin would be if he were listening as I suspected. "How did you swing that? Or, more importantly, _why_?"

Lyn flicked her wide eyes between the two of us and chuckled awkwardly. "Jan Li… that seems kind of personal, don't you think? All of us are here for all kinds of reasons, we shouldn't pry…"

My ears burned and I bowed my head in gratitude. Thankfully, Jan Li shrugged and dropped the issue, but I had the foreboding feeling that this wasn't the end of it.

I answered their barrage of questions and endured their teasing for a few minutes more before someone called for Lyn and her friends to return to camp. Lyn folded up her poster and bade me farewell with a warm hug. At first, I stiffened under her touch. Hugs from strangers were not common in my home. But I hugged her back after a second of shock, surprised at how much I appreciated the friendly demonstration. The others waved and then they were off.

I smiled softly to myself as they left. Had I just made my first real girl friends?

"Reminiscing about your boyfriend?" An irritable voice interrupted my happy thoughts.

I turned. Torrin was stringing up a clothesline outside of his tent. His movements were stiff and swift, and I walked over to him, concerned that his back might be hurting him again. I came around and caught his side-profile, which displayed a thunderous expression I'd never seen on him before.

"Is everything okay?" I asked with genuine feeling.

"Fine."

"Are you sure? Because you don't seem fine…"

"Well, I am," he snapped. "Don't let me get in the way of your daydreaming about your little prince charming." Torrin furiously marched over to the basket of wet laundry and began hanging his clothes up to dry.

I took a step backward, utterly stunned. "What is the matter with you?" I asked indignantly. Then, an impossible thought struck me. "You're not…"

"Not what?" he demanded, taking a pause to glower at me.

A wry grin spread across my face. "You're not _jealous_ , by any chance, are you?"

"What? No," he said defensively. He busied himself with the laundry, but couldn't hide the flush blooming in his face and neck.

And I burst into laughter. Not just a simple "Oh that was funny" kind of laugh, but the kind of laugh that sends you to your knees, clutching your stomach and wiping your tears kind of laugh. I couldn't help it! It was so funny to me that Torrin might actually be _jealous of my brother_.

When I finally could draw breath, I looked up at him. He was standing with his arms tightly at his sides and his head bowed sheepishly. His face was rosy with embarrassment, but he bore a small smile that told me he was over his temporary little tantrum.

"Don't be stupid," he mumbled. "I just don't see what all you girls see in that pompous moron…" He stuck out a hand to help me up, not quite meeting my eyes.

I wiped away my tears and took his offered hand. When I was up, I opened my mouth to correct him, but a sudden realization had me snapping it shut again. I couldn't set things straight without telling him who I really was, and I wasn't about to do that in the middle of a camp full of people who wanted to overthrow my entire family.

"What, nothing to say to the _hottest thing outside of the Fire Nation_?" he asked, bouncing his eyebrows up and down and grinning.

I rolled my eyes and dropped his hand irritably. "Shut up," I told him, hoping that would be the end of this horribly uncomfortable conversation, and together we walked toward the center of camp to find something to eat.


	14. Chapter 14: Grounded

**Chapter 14**

 _Grounded_

I woke up to Torrin's voice shouting my name. Instantly, my head flew off of my pillow and I jumped up in the darkness of the tent, feeling around for the opening frantically. He was standing just outside, mask in hand and expression deadly serious.

"What's wrong?" I asked fearfully.

"A troupe of bandits kidnapped some kids in our encampment when they were playing by the river. They just got the ransom note."

"Let me get my weapons."

I dashed inside and furiously snatched up my rapier and mask from my pack. I dashed outside and together, Torrin and I raced off into the night toward the river.

. . .

"Stay low and stay quiet. They're probably keeping the kids in the center tent, but we should wait and observe for a while, just to make sure," Torrin whispered.

I nodded from behind my mask and laid flat against the ground. We'd found a hill that overlooked the bandit encampment, where four large men were sitting by a fire near a tent and a crate of food bearing the Rebellion's insignia on the side. They spoke quietly to one another, but we were just far enough away to miss what they were saying. As we watched, a fifth man slid out of the tent. He said said something in a boisterous voice that was just loud enough for us to catch snippets from our hiding place.

"…brats… saw it comin'! We'll take… Rebels… all they've got!" He laughed in a booming voice. The others snickered and hollered in response. He made a sweeping gesture at the tent and mentioned something about kids, which confirmed Torrin's theory. He turned his masked face to me and I nodded.

We crawled back down hill and my heartbeat thundered in my ears. My fingers tingled with adrenaline. We snuck around the hill and broke into a quiet run toward the camp. With luck, we would be upon them before they had a chance to draw their weapons, so I took the opportunity to draw my own.

Torrin ran ahead of my with his long, bounding legs, and leapt into the air. He pulled back a fist and slammed it into the ground right behind the unsuspecting men and the earth rumbled and rose to his will. The two men closest to us went flying into the air and gravity brought them back down, hard, into a heap by the fire. I flew past Torrin and swung my rapier at the man standing before the tent.

He looked much smaller from the hill.

This man was a towering giant, and by the time I reached him, he'd grabbed a hulking club embedded with four, wicked metal spikes. He met my rapier with the club, and my blade cut into the wood and stuck.

"Uh-oh," I said right as he hurled his club into the air and took me with it. My feet lifted from the ground. I was momentarily defenseless, which my assailant took advantage of and sunk a massive fist into my side. I released my rapier with a shout of pain and tumbled to the ground, rolling a little on impact. I clutched my ribs but got up in time to dodge a random sword slicing through the air. I'd forgotten there was a fifth guy. I spun around and landed a precise kick in his groin and he momentarily went down.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Torrin tossing huge mounds of earth at the two men he'd thrown down previously and who were now tag-teaming him. I almost called out to him, but didn't have the time to form the words when Giant over here took another swing at me.

 _This is going well so far…_ I thought as I whipped out my father's dagger. It was tiny and unassuming, but I had my smallness and agility on my side against this hulking beast. He came toward me, leading with his right leg and winding his arm up to backhand me with the club. I darted forward and sliced my knife through the skin on his thigh, rolling between his legs and jumping up behind him. He roared and dropped to a knee. I launched myself at him and wrapped my arms around his neck. He rose back to his feet and lifted me up on his back, bucking and twisting against me. I clung on for dear life.

"Torrin!" I shouted desperately. I couldn't even look to see if he'd heard, so wild was the Giant's thrashing.

He must've heard something, because suddenly the ground beneath the Giant's feet twisted and parted and he fell with a defeaning crash to the ground. I followed the motion and had just enough foresight to shove his skull forward so it would take the brunt of the impact. The Giant's own weight worked against him and he smashed into the ground, face-first, and ceased to move.

I detached myself from him and rose to my feet.

"Ira!" Torrin's voice called out. I turned just in time to duck away from the swordsman I'd forgotten again. He lunged forward again and I got in close to shove the blade aside from the hilt with the edge of my hand. He staggered, momentarily off-balance.

I got into my most centered stance and swung my leg around, willing fire to blast out of it. A tiny little burst of flame ignited at my feet, but it was enough to do the trick. The man's exposed chest, free of protective clothing, burned instantly and he screamed in agony. His sword clattered from his hand and I snatched it up, pointing it at him. He curled into fetal position in the dirt, clutching the angry burn on his chest and wimpering.

Finally, I had a moment to catch my breath. Footsteps behind me had me on alert and jerking my head, but it was only Torrin. He stamped his foot into the ground with a simultaneous gesture of his hand, raising a cage of earth around the injured man. I looked around to see he had raised similar prisons around the other men, all out cold.

I grinned at him, but then remembered that I was wearing a mask like he was and said, "Nice work!"

He nodded. "You too."

I snorted, remembering how much I had just struggled. "No, really! You took down the scariest ones," he insisted.

"Yeah, with your help!"

"I didn't help that much."

"If you hadn't, I would be worm food right now."

He brushed me off and strode toward the tent, shaking his head. He was smart enough to know when arguing with me was useless. He was maybe a foot away from the tent when a large figure in billowing clothes flew out of nowhere and landed in front of him.

My heart stopped.

"Oh no…" I squeaked. Torrin cocked his head to the side curiously as the mysterious stranger slowly turned around.

"You are in so much trouble," warned Aang, the Avatar.

. . .

"What were you thinking, Kairo?"

"I was thinking I should help my friend save some kidnapped kids!"

"You know what I meant."

Torrin, Aang, the rescued children, and I had begun the journey back to camp, but Aang held me back on the hill overlooking the camp. I told Torrin to go ahead without me and he escorted the kids back. I wished he'd take off his mask so I could have read his expression.

"Kairo." He demanded when I didn't speak. I sighed and took off my mask to face him directly.

"You know, you were _twelve_ when you went out on a dangerous journey around the world," I reminded him sardonically. "My parents were even younger than I was when they went with you."

"That is beside the point! It was my _duty_ to go when I was twelve. And technically, I was actually one-hundred and—"

"Then what's my duty? Huh?" I interrupted, feeling defensive and upset now. I threw my arms out wide shouting, "To sit around and fail to meet everyone's expectations while people out here are suffering and dying? I can make a difference out here, Uncle Aang. For the first time in my life I have a purpose. I know you're worried about me, and I know my family must be worried too, but there are so many people out here risking their lives for what they believe in. Tell _them_ to just walk away. Tell _them_ to go home. Some of these people don't even have homes to go back to!" I waved my arm to gesture to the humble collection of tents sprinkled across the field. "You want me to give up and go back to safety because I come from a palace instead of a hut, but I can't. Not now."

He looked out at the people camped out below us and something in his gaze softened. When he turned back to me, his grey eyes were green and gentle. "These people are actively fighting to take down your father and disrupt the order we have been fighting so hard to build. You do realize that, don't you?" He asked me gently. I looked away, not really knowing what to say to that. He sighed. "I will do my best to help these people, and I'm proud of you for being willing to give up so much for them. But there's nothing more you can do here. Go home to your family, Kai. They need you."

My heart sank a little at the pleading in his eyes. I knew how sensitive he was about family, having lost nearly everyone he loved in one fell swoop when he vanished from the world for a century. I couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like to know that all of my loved ones lived and died without me.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry, but I can't. My family will be just fine without me. Torrin needs me more right now."

He regarded me thoughtfully for a long moment. "Does he really need you? Or, perhaps, do _you_ need him to need you?"

My eyes narrowed. "What is that supposed to mean?"

He continued slowly, as though he were using every word after very deliberate and delicate selection. "I think you have spent so much of your life feeling unnecessary, like you were nothing but a hindrance to everyone around you. I think that when Torrin said he needed you, not because of your title but because of you and your abilities, you were blinded by your need to feel wanted."

I recoiled from the words like they were physical blows.

He caught my tortured face and his eyes became filled with an empathetic sadness. He sighed. "Torrin seems like a very capable but very troubled young man. He carries this darkness in his heart that blinds him to all of the joy and happiness he could have, if he would let go of the fear and hate that guides him. I remember meeting a young man with a very similar darkness, once upon a time." Aang held my gaze meaningfully. I swallowed, realizing whom he meant.

"But Uncle Aang, my father changed—"

He shook his head sadly. "It took a great deal of suffering, and many, many bad decisions for Fire Lord Zuko to achieve that change of heart, princess. He hurt many people, including the people he would come to love most in this world. Including your mother."

I bit my lip and looked away.

"Torrin is on a path of violence and sorrow, and if you go with him, you will not only enable that in him, but you will invite it upon yourself. Please, Kairo, tell him you can't support him in this. Tell him the truth."

It turns out, I didn't have to.


	15. Chapter 15: The Truth

**Chapter 15**

 _The Truth_

"You're the _princess_?"

I whirled around and heart sunk into the ground. Behind me stood the one person I desperately didn't want to see. Torrin stood there, arms held limply at his sides, mask clattering to the ground. His eyes were bulging and furious as he whispered the words raggedly.

I didn't answer. I didn't really have to.

He ran his hands up his face and threaded them into his hair in distress. "You have got to be kidding me. I knew you were lying about everything from day one, but I figured you had to be the kid of some Fire Nation noble, not the kid of the _actual Fire Lord!"_ He rounded on me abruptly, hands clenched in fists at his sides. "What were you thinking, running away with a wanted fugitive? And how could you not think to mention that we've been getting ambushed everywhere you go, NOT because everybody wants to catch a criminal," his voice took on a falsely calm and high tone, until he shouted, "but because they thought _I KIDNAPPED A PRINCESS?!"_

"You knew I was lying?" I asked in a small voice.

"Of course I did! You were _terrible_! But I just assumed you were a pampered palace brat, not… not who you are." As he spoke, his anger seemed to melt into something more resigned. He stopped shouting, his body lost some of its tension. But in wake of his wrath, a sort of sadness began to seep into his face.

I wished he would stay angry.

He dropped onto the ground and held his head in his hands against his knees. He heaved a sigh. "So you're name is Kairo then, not Ira?" He murmured, exhaustion and disappointment radiating off of him.

"Yes," I said, soft and sad. "I'm impressed you know the names of Fire Nation roy—"

"I don't," he snapped. "I heard your 'uncle' call you that… right before I discovered that my travel-buddy is friends with the Avatar and directly related to the man who destroyed everything I've ever loved. I could excuse you for being a distant cousin or something, but now…" his voice went hoarse and he cleared his throat before softly finishing, "now all I see when I look at you is the people who burned down my world."

I struggled for words, feeling hollow and empty and horrible inside.

"You know who I've been searching for? My family. My father fought against your people in the war over twenty years ago, and when your father just took over, called it off, and then carried on like the Fire Nation never ruined countless lives across the world. There were no reparations, nothing to say, 'Hey, sorry we tried to take over the world and burn it to the ground, let us help you rebuild!' He just pulled back the troops and moved on. But my father's battalion came home to find their entire village had been destroyed. There was nothing left. My mother and older brother were the only survivors."

He swallowed hard, but forced himself to continue throwing his tragic story in my face like an accusation. "My father was too good a man to leave his men to pick up the pieces of their fractured lives alone, so he set out to ask for the Fire Nation to help pay for what they'd lost." Torrin looked up at me at last, his eyes full of pain. "He never came home. He never knew that he had another son on the way. He never knew how sick my mother and brother were. For all he knows, his whole family is dead. My father is out there somewhere and doesn't even know I exist."

I blinked. "I had no idea…"

Torrin barked a bitter laugh. "Of course you didn't. You've been sitting in your castle, oblivious to what life has been like for the people whose lives were wrecked by history." He ran a hand through his hair agitatedly. "Have you ever even read the documents from the war room?" Without waiting for a reply, he continued, "Because there are dozens of letters and records of people begging for help from their oppressors. You know what I didn't find? Any evidence of a response. Not a single sign that you did ANYTHING to help fix the mess you made!"

"I'm sorry Torrin, I never—"

Again, he cut me off. "Save it. I never asked for an apology from the Fire Royals. I just want to get as far away from you as I can and finally get some peace and quiet." He rose to his feet and brushed off his pants. He never once looked in my direction. "Honestly, I don't know why I didn't get rid of you weeks ago." With that last cut, he strode away from me and stalked off into the darkness.

I didn't know when the numbness had turned into hurt. I didn't know when the tears in my eyes had begun to dampen my cheeks. Most of all, I didn't know when I had started to care so much about what Torrin thought of me… and how his disappointment could break my heart.


	16. Chapter 16: Up in Flames

I heard a cough from behind me swung around robotically to look at a supremely uncomfortable Avatar. He was further away from me than where we'd started out before Torrin showed up, so I figured he must have tried to retreat from the awkward confrontation.

I wondered why he didn't just leave.

Judging by the look on his face, he was wondering the same thing.

"Go ahead Uncle," I said with a tight throat, "say what you have to say."

He scratched the back of his neck. "I, uh, don't really know what to say after that actually…"

I snorted.

"Then what are you still doing here?"

His face softened. Then he walked over and engulfed me in a hug. I was surprised at first, but after a moment, I wrapped my arms around him and smiled a little.

"You know I'm going to have to go back to your parents now. They've been worried sick and I have to tell them you're okay. You are okay, right?"

I sighed and pulled away. "Yeah," I said with a nod. "I'm okay."

He grinned at me. "I guess I'd better go then. Prepare yourself for a full-on royal procession coming here to get you back home." I rolled my eyes. He reached over his shoulder and pulled out a retractable staff. An orange-and-blue glider with the three white swirls of the Air Nomads snapped open. He tipped his head at me with a meaningful glance before taking to the skies.

I inhaled deeply, then let out the air slowly. I could handle this. I could handle anything. Right?

Apparently not.

When I finally turned around, the camp was on fire.

Orange and yellow firelight was rapidly engulfing the tents at the edge of the campsite. Frantic refugees scurried between the flames in a panic as I watched, transfixed with horror.

"Aang!" I screeched, spinning around desperately in hopes of catching my Uncle before he flew too far. Unfortunately, air benders tend to travel light and fast, which was really inconvenient when you _don't_ want to be caught by your uncle _and_ when you _do_ need him to notice a disaster before he vanishes into the night.

I huffed in annoyance when I realized the Avatar was long gone and I was on my own. I bent down and snatched up my forgotten mask, tying it over my face. I didn't even bother with my rapier. This was a battle best fought sans weapons.

I tore across the field as fast as my stumbling feet could carry me.

The heat was suffocating, but I took a deep breath of clean air and let it out slowly and evenly, just like Izumi had taught me to minimize the amount of toxic air that I took in.

Fire benders could ignite fire on command and manipulate it at will, but even they could not control it once it had taken on a mind of its own. Fire was a beautiful and dangerous element, and therefore fire benders must be the most disciplined and carefully trained of all four nations, according to my father.

This fire was ravenous, consuming all in its path and spreading rapidly from tent to tent in search of more fuel. I reached out my and to a nearby tent and willed the inferno to obey with all of my might. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. Even the best of benders probably couldn't stop this fire, and the spirits know how poor of a bender I am, so I never stood a chance.

Abandoning that fruitless task, I raced between the panicking people and searched for survivors. My flame-resistant Fire Nation training garb certainly came in handy as I darted into a burning structure and snatched up a bleary-eyed creature that had been wailing for help.

"Not you!" I coughed as I saw who it was. You guessed it! The cat.

I tossed the little devil aside and it darted away, screeching indignantly.

Suddenly, a hunched figure stumbled into view through the thick, black smoke. I heard the sound of my name—my fake name—over the roar of the flames and the terrified screams of the people. I slid the mask up my face to get a better look around but immediately slid it back down as a wave of unbearable heat assaulted my cheeks.

The figure approached me and grabbed fistfuls of my clothes in a death-grip. "Ira—" a thick cough cut off the strangled voice.

"Jan Li?" I asked, grabbing her elbows to steady her.

"Can't find Lyn and Maya!" she wheezed.

"What?!" I jerked my head up to look over at the wreckage of burning tents around us. "Did they make it out?" I demanded.

She nodded. "They went to find Torrin!"

A pang of unease filled my heart at the words. If anything happened to him after what had happened between us… I shook my head, dreading the thought that his last thoughts of me would be bad ones.

"I'm sure they're safe," I told her. "Now let's get you out of here!" I slid an arm around her shoulders and steered her away from the camp toward the river.

"Ah!" I hissed as my foot caught on something solid and metallic and we both went down—hard. "What the…"

I peered at the object suspiciously. It was a rectangular tin can with a fire nation emblem on the side. I'd seen a million of these in the military, something we'd recently developed to increase flammability by allowing specialized soldiers to carry their own accelerant. But something was off about the insignia... It was just slightly disproportioned, and I knew for a fact that any product that came out of the Fire Nation army had to pass rigorous testing for consistency and perfection. This was not a real Fire Nation artifact.

I shook my head, deciding that this knock-off can was not my main priority at the moment. I yanked on Jan Li's arm and we set off again, heading toward the river. We cleared the trees, which had thankfully avoided catching fire so far, and we made it to the bank where a crowd of scared rebels was gathering. I took Jan Li to the water and dipped my hands in it to wash some of the ash from her face. She had inhaled too much smoke and her eyes were bloodshot, hair a tangled mess. It's safe to She'd seen better days.

I stood up and pushed the mask down my face to hand around my neck. The cool night air kissed my face and I wiped my sticky forehead with a gloved hand. I peered around, searching for any sign of Lyn or Torrin. (Part of me hoped to avoid the latter.)

"There she is!" Someone cried. I turned at the shout to find a disheveled man pointing a finger at me in accusation.

I pointed at myself in alarm. "Me?" I asked.

A young man stepped out of the crowd and marched up to me. "Yeah, you. Don't play dumb. Torrin told me you're from the Fire Nation, and look what we have here," he said angrily, waving a can identical to the one I'd tripped over earlier.

"That's not mine!" I said defensively.

"Sure, it just waltzed into camp all on its own and set everything on fire."

"I'm telling you, I didn't do this!"

"But you're not denying you're a fire bender?"

I kept my face blank and said nothing in my defense. As bad as the situation was, I didn't think getting caught in a lie would do anything to help.

"Well, princess? What do you have to say for yourself? Be careful how you answer, because these could be your last words," the young man said in a quieter but far more lethal tone. Only those closest to us could hear him now. I gaped at him, more shocked about how knew who I was than the threat.

"Are you here as a spy?" he continued softly. "Did you come here to smoke out the Rebellion? Didn't like the people trying to take away from your family's power? Or do you just get off on mass murder?"

Instantly, I felt my features harden as my distress turned into anger. "I am not a murderer, nor am I any spy." I threw a hand out in a sweeping gesture toward the camp. "Did you not see how I came here to help you? Do you not remember how I saved those kids, like, _an hour_ ago?!"

But his face was set. He wasn't about to listen to my excuses. "Save it, you abhorrent specimen of Fire Nation filth. How could we possibly trust anything you have to say when you and your people have shown us nothing but pain and fear?"

He threw the can and it landed right on my foot. My eyes watered, but I refused to show that he affected me. I just stared at him. I didn't blink. I didn't move. I just held his gaze.

"I think you should leave now," The vicious old man from before said to me.

Breathing deeply, I swept my eyes over the crowd. They were scared, tired, coughing, and covered in ash and soot. My throat tightened. I had nothing to say to defend myself here, so I just bowed low and with honor, like a true daughter of the Fire Nation would.

Then I turned on my heel and walked away.


	17. Chapter 17: Panicking and Parenting

**Chapter 17**

Panic and Parenting

"You've seen her? Is she alright?" Zuko demanded at the same time that Katara asked, "Was she hurt? What did she say?" Zuko wrapped his hand reassuringly around his wife's arm as she turned her wide blue eyes to Aang's grey ones.

They were on the deck of a Royal Fire Nation vessal heading toward the Earth Kingdom. The ship was metallic, like most Fire Nation ships, but lacked the harsh point and menacing emblems that dominated the shape of Navy ships. They were not far off from the mainland. (Katara had been subtly waterbending a bit here and there to speed up the process; she just couldn't help it.)

Zuko had ditched the stuffy Fire Lord getup for a more casual uniform, something that looked a lot more like an upgraded version of what he had worn for most of his days traveling with the "Gaang" back in the day. Katara was wearing a dark blue dress made in tribute to traditional water tribe clothing and dark wrapings around her arms and legs. When he first landed, Aang felt strangely nostalgic at the sight. The feeling was short-lived once he caught sight of their faces.

Aang held up his hands in a calming motion. "She was just fine. She's been traveling with a young earth bender and fell in with the…uh… with a group of political activists…" He reached a hand up to scratch behind his neck and dropped his gaze awkwardly. Katara narrowed her eyes.

"You want to explain, Aang?"

He sighed. "Kairo has sort of ended up in a Rebellion base-camp."

Silence.

"Of course she has," muttered Zuko sarcastically.

Katara threw her arms up in the air and began to pace furiously. "What is she doing there?! Has she LOST her MIND? I mean, a little teenage rebellion is understandable. Just take a look at her father for spirits' sakes!"

"Hey…" mumbled Zuko indignantly, but she plowed on.

"But this is just ridiculous! If she had concerns about something, she should have known that she could come talk to us! I don't understand how on Earth she thought that the best solution is to abscond to the Earth Kingdom and join a militant political group. She couldn't just be like every other teenager and get a secret boyfriend or get a radical haircut or something?"

"You realize that I did both of those things as a teenager, too, right?" Zuko said in his husky voice. Katara whirled around and put her hands on her hips, as she was prone to do when she was feeling especially cross.

"You got a secret boyfriend?" She demanded, indicating she did not find his little joke very amusing.

"No, but I got you, didn't I?"

Katara's angry flush shifted a bit in her embarrassment and spread to her cheeks. Aang coughed uncomfortably and shifted his gaze. "But—th-that's different," she spluttered, "We didn't actually get together until after the war when you were… you know… recovering."

"And thanks to you, I recovered exceptionally well."

Katara threw her hands up in the air. "Oh, for spirits' sakes, you are not going to sidetrack me from this conversation, Zuko!" She rounded on Aang again, who looked like he would rather continue to awkwardly third-wheel on their romantic reminiscing than feel mama platypusbear's wrath.

"Where is my daughter, Aang?"

"In a base-camp by the river in the old colonies. Trust me, she's perfectly safe and—"

He was interrupted by a messenger hawk screeching as it landed on Zuko's arm. He unraveled the message attached to the bird's leg and read it to himself. If possible, his expression became even more grim than usual. He looked up at Aang with fire in his eyes. "She's 'perfectly safe', huh?"

Aang shifted and brought his eyebrows down in confusion.

"Then would you mind telling me why June the bounty hunter had just informed me that the Rebellion base camp just burned to the ground and there is no sight or scent of Kairo anywhere?"

Katara's eyes widened to the size of saucers. Aang's mouth fell open. Then all was chaos as everyone leapt into action. Katara flew to the back of the ship and worked her arms furiously to bend the water behind the ship. It lurched forward in a sudden gust of speed just as Aang snapped out his glider and took to the air. Zuko bolted up the stairs to the captain's quarters, taking them two at a time and burst through the door to shout new orders. The captain was bewildered, but made hasty movements to comply.

Zuko jumped the railing on the stairs and landed hard on the deck. He moved quickly to the front of the ship as though he could somehow see Kairo from there and see for himself that she was all right.

"Teenage rebellion is right…" he muttered as they sped toward the horizon.


	18. Chapter 18: Conflicted

**Chapter 18**

Conflicted

Torrin had seen better days.

He was completely and utterly emotionally exhausted. He had been walking all night the night before with a long gash in his back wearing wet, chafing clothes. He had a small argument with his best friend. He rescued some scared little kids from dangerous bandits. He had a tragic and sickening realization with the Fire Princess and the Avatar.

Basically, Torrin was in desperate need of a good sleep.

But did he get one?

NOPE.

Here he was, brooding like a moody child on a riverbank.

Fire Princess. Fire _Princess_. _Princess_ of the _Fire Nation_. Torrin laughed darkly to himself and shook his head. Of course she was the princess. It was just so beautifully ironic.

Earlier that day, he had sauntered into the lead tent, cool and confident and blissfully unaware of the crap-show his day would turn out to be. To his surprise, the tent's usual occupant was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a familiar stiff figure was standing with his back to the opening, looking down at a map on a table.

"Auden!" Torrin squealed in his girliest—and loudest—voice. Auden whirled around with wide eyes, but as soon as he set eyes on the obnoxious intruder, his face hardened into a level of seriousness only Auden could achieve.

"Oh no…" he grumbled with narrowed eyes.

Torrin laughed. "Come on, Auddie! Don't tell me you haven't missed this beautiful face."

"I haven't missed your ugly mug, that's quite certain."

"Rude." Torrin embraced his oldest and sternest friends in a fierce hug, which Auden eventually returned—albeit a little reluctantly. He suddenly stiffened and pulled back.

"Hang on, is that blood on your back?" he asked and twirled Torrin around. Torrin waved a hand and slapped Auden on the shoulder lightheartedly.

"Just a little run-in with a bounty hunter and a cliff."

Auden's face betrayed no change in emotion. "Naturally," he said.

"Come on. I'll fill you in while I get patched up."

"I'm busy."

"Not too busy for this story, it's a real thriller!" Torrin called teasingly.

"That doesn't make me any less busy, Torrin." Auden was not pleased.

But Torrin had already steered him out of the tent by shoving on his shoulders, which were held stiff and squared above his firmly crossed arms. Auden was at least a head shorter than Torrin, but where Torrin was long and lean, Auden was more stocky and built, which meant that if he had really intended to stop his friend from forcing him to go anywhere, he could have easily held his ground.

Though Auden would never admit it, sometimes Torrin felt that his friend needed someone to take him on adventures and relieve him of his constant planning duties, even if it was just a trip to the infirmary.

Torrin caught a glance of a short young woman with messy brown hair and black clothes being led away toward the other end of camp and smiled. Auden, who never missed anything, took note of this and raised an eyebrow. "I see you brought back a little treat for yourself."

Torrin snorted. "Don't let her catch you saying that, she'll give you an _earful_."

"Finally found someone who talks as much as you do?"

"Probably more, if I can get her to open up a bit," Torrin mused thoughtfully. He stopped pushing Auden and came to walk beside him, confident that his friend would go with him willingly, now that he'd been forcibly distracted. "She's super smart. You can just tell by the way she says things. I bet she could give even you a run for your money, Aud."

Auden's eyebrow twitched, but it was the only reaction he gave to the assertion. "So where did you find someone intelligent enough to 'give me a run for my money' but stupid enough to tag along with you?"

Torrin hesitated for a moment, and his face told Auden all he needed to know.

He stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh no, Torrin. Tell me you did not bring someone from the Fire Nation capital here. Tell me you are not the biggest idiot on the planet."

"I am not the biggest idiot on the planet," Torrin said matter-of-factly. Auden's eyes narrowed.

"I think you just might be. What were you thinking, bringing her here? How do you know that she's not a spy for the Fire Lord? How do you know you didn't just let some war general's protégé waltz right into our main camp? Don't you ever just stop for half a second to think about your decisions, Torrin? Do you ever think about how your stupid, reckless, impulsive decisions might affect other people?!" he demanded these questions in rapid-fire succession, growing louder and more irate with each one. They approached the camp that housed a waterbender healer, but before they went in, Torrin rounded on Auden and ducked his head to murmur without being overheard.

"Look, I know I don't always look it, but I'm not a complete moron. I wouldn't have risked bringing her here if I had any doubt in my mind that she is trustworthy. If not for her, I would have been imprisoned or dead many times over. Yes, she's Fire Nation, and yes she's from the capital, but she's not the enemy, Auden. It's not like I brought the Fire Lord into camp, geez."

Auden grumbled, but allowed Torrin to slip into the healer's tent with nothing more than a long-suffering sigh.

Now, sitting on the ground and lamenting his rotten luck, Torrin wished he'd had the good sense to listen to his friend. He'd never known Auden to be wrong before. Why didn't he just kick her out of the camp when he'd had the chance? They could have parted ways. He could be on his way to Ba Sing Se to get the information he needed from his contact, and he would never have known that he'd been travelling with an elitist. She would have disappeared from his life forever and that would be that.

But as the thought entered his mind, Torrin was troubled by the unease he felt. Did he really want her to disappear from his life forever?

Of course he did! There was no other option.

Was there?

Maybe he judged her too harshly. True, they'd had people hunting them nonstop ever since the moment they left the Fire Nation, but maybe that wasn't strictly her fault. She had helped them escape every time, hadn't she? Didn't that mean something?

Of course, it could have all been a clever ploy to throw him off until he showed her the Rebellion base camp.

But he'd deliberately withheld where they were going, and she never even asked about the Rebellion, so that didn't make much sense.

 _You did say she was brilliant_ , Auden's suspicious voice whispered in his head. Torrin scowled.

 _Yeah, I also said she was trustworthy_. _Now I just don't know what to think_. He rubbed a hand over his eyes and rose to his feet. Moping by himself wasn't getting him anywhere and he hated feeling depressed, so he decided to find Auden.

It turns out, he didn't have to go far. Auden had been searching for him and was only a few feet away when Torrin turned back toward the camp.

"What's wrong?" he demanded.

Torrin lifted a corner of his mouth in a wry smile. "Not one to waste time, are you?"

"Answer."

He sighed. "Well, it's your lucky day, because I'm about to tell you your favorite phrase for the first and last time in my life." Auden's eyebrows rose. "You were right," Torrin groaned theatrically, but his heart wasn't really into the performance and the flippant tone fell flat, even to his own ears.

"I usually am. You'll have to specify."

"About Ir- about the girl."

Auden's face hardened. "What?"

Torrin ran a hand through his hair and looked at the ground to the left. "She's sort of, er, more complicated than I expected her to be."

Auden scoffed. "Of course she is, she's a woman."

Torrin couldn't quite bring himself to laugh at the joke. He took a deep breath and braced himself for the wrath that was coming his way. "She's… well, you see… she's kind of the, uh, fire…princess…"

Crucial seconds of silence ticked by and Torrin just stared fixedly at Auden's impeccable brown boots.

"You… are the dumbest man I have ever—"

But Torrin would never know the rest of that sentence.

Out of nowhere, a roaring BOOM and a WHOOSH of hot air exploded into the sky behind Auden. Torrin stared in horror as a cloud of flame erupted from the center of the camp and began spreading out, creeping toward the other tents. Auden spun around, arms out wide. Before either of them said a word, they took off toward the camp.

"Make sure everyone is up and get them to safety. Tell everyone to gather by the river, I'm going to look for survivors!" Auden shouted and Torrin nodded.

"Be safe!" He called out as Auden raced towards the flames, which were rising ever higher into the night sky.

"Follow your own advice!" Auden called back over his shoulder and disappeared into the smoke.

Torrin veered off toward the nearest tent and burst in to find a bleary-eyed family. "The camp is on fire. Get up and run to the river! Leave everything behind!" He shouted. The father met his eyes and nodded. Satisfied, Torrin moved on.

He cleared tent after tent until he heard a shrill scream. It was coming from the tent that Ira had shared with the other girls. His heart skipped a beat. He raced toward the tent and found it had completely collapsed and was partially on fire. Two huddled figures were on the ground, one clutching their ankle and the other hovering over them. He skidded to a stop once he recognized them as Maya and

Lyn.

"Torrin! You have to help her, the tent fell on her ankle and she can't walk!" cried a terrified Lyn as she gestured at Maya, who was dangerously pale and closing her eyes tightly against the pain. Torrin scooped up the injured girl as gently as he could and took swift, smooth strides away from the fiery campsite. Lyn was right on his tail.

"Hang in there, Maya. It's going to be alright, I promise," he murmured gently to Maya as he held her against his chest. She nodded weakly. He turned to Lyn, who was jogging to keep up with his long strides. "Have you seen Ira?" He asked.

Lyn shook her head. "We woke up when we heard the explosion and the screaming, but her bedroll was empty and most of her stuff was gone!" Torrin grimaced. So she hadn't returned. Whether that was a good or bad thing, he didn't know.

"What about Jan Li?"

Lyn's eyes filled with worried tears. "We were halfway to the river when Maya and I decided to go back and look for you and Ira, but Jan Li told us she'd wait with the others in case you showed up there instead!"

"I'm sure she's fine," Torrin said quickly to reassure her. They were almost at the river where a large crowd of people was gathering. He didn't slow down when he reached them, but ploughed through until he caught sight of other injured refugees by the healer. He gently set down his charge. Lyn crouched beside her and smoothed her hair back, murmuring words of comfort.

Torrin straightened up and used his height to look over the heads of the crowd in search of Ira or Auden. He caught a glimpse of the perfect auburn haircut that could only belong to Auden and made toward him. He was staring at the burning camp with a thunderous expression.

"Are you okay? What's going on?" Torrin asked when he arrived.

"Why don't you ask your girlfriend?" Auden snapped, refusing to even look at him. Torrin reared his head back in surprise.

"What?"

"You heard me. She set the camp on fire."

Torrin shook his head. "That's ridiculous, she would never—"

Auden suddenly rounded on him. "Are you sure? Because just a few minutes ago you told me she'd been lying to you about who she was from the moment you met her. One day, everything here is fine, the next day, the fire princess shows up and our camp is burned down using a fuel tank from the Fire Nation Army. What does that tell you, Torrin?"

His mind raced. He didn't want to believe she could actually do something like this. He couldn't believe it. She cared too much about people to do something that would hurt someone. There was just no way.

But there was that little voice again, whispering, _How do you know for sure?_

"Where is she?" he murmured quietly, still reeling.

Auden shrugged. "I told her to get lost before I decided to hold her accountable for all of this mess. With any luck, she's already at the coast and on some private Fire Nation vessel. Or better yet, maybe she's been eaten by a platypusbear."

Torrin winced. Auden ignored this. Instead, he narrowed his eyes at his old friend, as though he were sizing him up. "Are you going after her?"

Torrin paused. His mind raced to think through all of the things that had happened in the past few days. He thought through all of the choices he had before him. He thought of all of the conflicting feelings raging inside him. He thought of the flames dancing through the ruins of a place many once called a temporary home, a haven. He thought of Ira, or Kairo, or whatever her name was. He thought of her blue eyes and her embarrassed blush and her free laughter. He thought of the hurt in her eyes when he'd left. He thought of the note that was still resting in his pocket telling him to go to Ba Sing Se, though the words had bled after he'd fallen into a river. He thought of his father, and the answers awaiting him somewhere out there.

Suddenly, his decision was clear.

"No," he said. "The princess is on her own. I still don't think she did this, but frankly, she's not my concern anymore. I'll stick around to help pick up the pieces here, but then I'm heading to Ba Sing Se. I have some business to take care of."


	19. Chapter 19: Cat Out of the Bag

**Chapter 19**

 _Cat Out of the Bag_

 _Honestly, why does everything I touch seem to go up in flames? Except, of course, for all of the things I want to send up in flames that don't seem to ever want to ignite for me? First I'm a disgrace to the Fire Nation, now I'm a disgrace_ _ **because**_ _of the Fire Nation. I just can't win. And now I'm in the middle of nowhere in a kingdom that doesn't want me with nothing to do and a long list of friends-turned-enemies. I knew this would be a bad decision! If I die out here, Uncle Iroh, you and I are going to have words about encouraging idiotic behav—_

A twig snapped behind me and I jerked out of my wallowing. I had been marching so vehemently into the forest that I never even noticed how far off of the path I'd gotten. I looked around me, finally swiveling around to see the intruder to my dark thoughts.

For a moment, I saw black fabric and my heart leapt, thinking Torrin had come to find me after all. But then the last person I expected to see stepped gracefully into view. It was Jan Li.

I blinked.

"Well? Aren't you going to say anything? Or are you going to stand there gaping like a fish?" She asked in a bored voice.

I shut my open mouth and gave her an apologetic look. "What are you doing here?" I asked her.

She sighed and rolled her eyed before holding out a pack to me. She had a similar one on her own shoulder. "I knew you would forget this, and I bet Auden several silver pieces that you'd get yourself lost in less than five minutes. He thought you'd hold out to ten."

I looked around me, searching for something familiar to justify my indignation, but I couldn't even fight it. I was truly lost now.

"Guess he'll have to pay up when we get back."

"We?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, 'we.' Once everybody calms down a bit, they'll see that you couldn't have had anything to do with all of that and we can waltz right into camp and they'll all tolerate-slash-ignore you and everything will go back to normal."

I wasn't so sure about that. "But I'm a fire bender. They're not going to tolerate-slash-ignore that little detail."

She turned her attention to a snag on her sleeve and dismissed the comment. "They'll get over it. Give it time and no one will care what you bend as long as you don't bend it at them."

"Is that how you feel?" I asked her curiously. I was still trying to work out why on earth she'd come all the way out here after me.

"I promise you, I really couldn't care less about your bending."

"Is there anything you do care about?" I muttered grimly. She shot me a glare, but didn't venture a response.

I turned my attention to the pack she'd handed me. There was something large and metallic attached to the front of the pack with thick twine. I snapped my fingers on my right hand and ignited the smallest little flame, flickering unsteadily in the darkness, to study it better. It was the canister that the angry rebel had tossed at me. I looked up at Jan Li and the flame died instantly.

She held my gaze with an unreadable expression. "I thought you might want to take a closer look at that. In case you hadn't noticed, there's something… off about it. It's not typical Fire Nation arsenal."

I nodded. "Actually, I did notice that. But if it's not Fire Nation, where could it have come from? And why would someone use it to burn the Rebellion camp?"

She shrugged. "Maybe to send a message to the camp? Tell the Rebellion to back off or we'll all get burned?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and thought hard. "But if the arsonist is a fire bender, they wouldn't need accelerant. And if they were Fire Nation, they wouldn't need this strange knock-off, they would use actual Fire Nation materials. So maybe they weren't Fire Nation at all… but then why use something that implicates the Fire Nation? Maybe the goal is to get everyone angry enough with them to retaliate?"

Jan Li raised an eyebrow. "If that's the goal, I'd say they achieved it pretty well. The whole camp is in uproar."

"Yeah, I noticed," I grumbled. A moment passed in grim, pensive silence.

"What are you going to do now?" Jan Li asked after a minute or so.

My mind whirred. Orginally, I'd intended to make my way back to the coast to wait for one of the many people searching for me to find me and bring me back home for the grounding of the century. But now… now I'd stumbled upon a piece of a conspiracy, and I wasn't about to just hand off the information to a bunch of bureaucrats to dismiss and ignore while I sat in my room under house arrest. I wanted to get to the bottom of this and clear my name, and maybe stop a revolution from breaking out into war.

"If I wanted to figure out where this was manufactured, where would I go?" I asked Jan Li.

She looked momentarily surprised. "The first place I would think of would be the old Fire Nation Colonies. It's already the industrial hub of the entire kingdom. You can find pretty much anything there, especially in the new central city they're building."

" _They" being my Parents, Uncle Sokka, and Aang and Toph, I'm sure._

Well, I had to start somewhere. I slung the pack over my shoulder and nodded determinedly. "Okay then. Which direction is the central city?"

Now it was her time to gawk. "You're just going to walk across an unfamiliar continent all the way there? By yourself?"

I nodded. "Yeah, so which way?"

She dropped her pack to the ground and stared up at the sky as though praying for patience. After a moment, she bent and picked up the bag again and marched past me. "It's this way, come on."

I stumbled to catch up. "Wait, you're coming with me?"

"Yeah, but before you get too full of yourself, I'm only coming because I know that you will get yourself killed if you go alone, and Lyn and Maya and Torrin would never stop moping about it."

"Oh… well, thanks."

"Please don't mention it. Ever."

We walked on in the darkness without another word for several miles. I hoped Jan Li knew was as confident in her sense of direction as she seemed to be, because it felt like an endless maze of trees for me. The sun was beginning to rise in front of us when she spoke again. "We're coming up to the edge of the forest. We should be nearing the road soon, and that'll take us to a town where we can hopefully get some sleep."

"Great, that sounds—what the…" Something was shuffling around in my pack. I stopped and rested it on the ground. "What did you put in this?"

She shrugged. "Just some stuff you left behind that didn't get turned into ash."

I knew what it was before I even opened the drawstrings. A small, angry, black demon surged from the bag and tore at my sleeves with razor-sharp claws. I yelped and shoved it away from me, sending it right at Jan Li. Before I could warn her not to touch it though, she bent and began to gently stroke the evil creature.

"What is wrong with you? What did this poor thing ever do to you?" She admonished me with a sharp look. Unbelievably, the cat was perfectly content and docile to her touch. It watched me with those smug, yellow eyes and purred.

"I have a long list of what that 'poor thing' has done to me. It's evil."

Jan Li raised an eyebrow in a disbelieving expression. She rose from her crouch to fold her arms and look down on me.

I scrambled to my feet and brushed off my backside where I'd landed after being mauled by the creature. "Fine, don't believe me. Whatever. Just be careful with that thing."

"I'll be on my guard," she said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You know what, Jan Li, what are you even doing here? I thought you of all people would be ready to see the back of me," I said with no small amount of bitterness.

"I, of all people, would be a little more understanding about this whole thing, I'll have you know. I am from the Fire Nation myself, and it's not like I—

"Hang on, you're Fire Nation?" I asked incredulously.

She sniffed, chin high in the air, and said, "Fire Nation Upper Class, thank you."

 _Huh, me too. Really high class, actually._

I squinted at her, a little suspicious now. "Why don't I recognize you, then?" _More importantly, ,why didn't you recognize me?_

She bristled. "Why should I air out all my family drama to you when you just got us kicked out of the Rebellion?"

"You _chose_ to come with me!" I shouted. "I _never_ asked you to come along! In fact, I'm pretty sure I'd rather be on my own than have to listen to you gripe and whine and insult me every ten seconds!"

"I only came because I—" she stopped herself abruptly and sealed her mouth shut, glaring fiercely at me.

"No, go on. Because you what?"

"Nevermind. Let's just walk in silence until we get to the next town before one of us commits murder."

"I somehow doubt you're capable of killing me, Jan Li."

But the look she gave me made me think otherwise.


	20. Chapter 20: Born Lucky

**Chapter 19**

Born Lucky

Izumi rubbed his temples and let out a quiet sigh as he listened to what felt like the hundredth angry rant about the inconvenience of an interim Fire Lord that morning. When his father finally did return home, Izumi was going to request—no, _demand_ —a week's vacation on Ember Island in blissful solitude and silence.

"…and furthermore, I recognize that the Fire Lord was quite young when he assumed the throne, but circumstances necessitated such measures be taken, and while I have the utmost respect for you, Prince Izumi, I do not feel it is wise to leave a young man barely out of his studies to rule over the Fire Nation in a time of such instability and uncertainty to go gallivanting about the seas. I mean, there are rumors of rebellious uprisings, and the spirits only know what General Wei is scheming regarding the political reform of the education system as we speak…"

 _Make that two weeks_.

"I understand your concerns, Counselor, but I will remind you that my father did not take the decision to appoint me as his right-hand lightly. In placing me in this _temporary_ position," he emphasized with a meaningful look, "Fire Lord Zuko has demonstrated the utmost faith in my abilities as a leader and your abilities as advisors. I am positive that, with your wise guidance, my father's absence will pass without a hitch."

Seeing that the advisor was opening his wide, frog-like mouth to object, Izumi held up a hand and continued, "If you have any further concerns, I would be happy to pass them along to my father via messenger hawk. Unfortunately, I must call this meeting to a close. As you know, we have emissaries from the Earth Kingdom arriving shortly and we must prepare for their arrival."

Izumi rose from his seat at the head of the long, ornate table, cutting off any grumbling with the motion. He marched toward the door, flanked by disgruntled advisors, but his long legs propelled him down the corridor and out of sight long before they could think of catching up.

When he was safely out of range, he slowed and breathed a sigh of relief. His head was throbbing and his mood was grim.

Though the arriving emissaries were just an excuse to cut the meeting short, Izumi knew, in that perfect, responsible part of his mind, that he really should check in with the cooks and servant staff to ensure everything was in order.

In the more human part of his mind, Izumi knew he needed to take a breather first.

He debated for a moment, then turned on his heel and marched toward the outer gates. He was going to take a short walk, try to relieve his headache, and then return to run a nation. Temporarily.

As he walked, he let his mind wander. Izumi had been groomed his entire life for this position. His father had only a few tentative years of preparation in an abusive household before he was tossed into the throne. Having just spent a few _days_ in his shoes, Izumi shook his head at that extraordinary feat. Granted, Zuko was not an ordinary man, but Izumi could barely imagine what it must have been like for him, trying to repair a broken nation, a broken _world_ , as a _teenager_.

How could anyone live up to a legacy like that?

Try as he might, Izumi would never feel like he was worthy of the shoes he would one day fill.

These dark musings hung heavy in his mind, looming so powerfully over him that he lost track of where he was going.

"Prince Izumi."

The voice jarred him back to reality and he blinked. He was standing in front of an enormous cylindrical building, the entrance to which was patrolled by several guards. Instantly, he felt cold. He had no idea why his feet had carried him to this godforsaken place.

It was the prison that housed his aunt and grandfather. Ozai and Azula. Close relations only by blood, never proximity. He'd only seen Azula once when Zuko took him and his young sister to visit her. He didn't remember the meeting much, except that she had been intimidating and callous, with a wicked gleam in her eye that made him uneasy… like she could see through his soul.

Zuko never allowed him to meet his grandfather.

Once upon a time, Izumi was curious to meet the man… but time had robbed him of that curiosity. As an adult, he had every right to see him now, but never did. He told himself that he was avoiding Ozai not out of cowardice, but indifference.

Privately, he knew that was a lie.

Izumi stood before the guard, thinking about this in silence, until the guard shifted uncomfortably. "Did you… did you want to enter, my lord?" he asked tentatively.

 _No_ , he was prepared to say, but his mouth, like his feet, had other ideas.

"Yes," he said, and he marched inside.

A guard patrolling the corridor bowed upon seeing him, then took up a torch and escorted him down the hall. "What brings you here, my lord?" he asked, glancing sideways at him as they walked briskly through the stone passages.

Not really knowing how to tell the man that he had no idea what brought him there, he just said the first thing that came to his mind. "I'm here to check on a prisoner."

"Which one, my lord?"

Valid question.

"Azula." He said, sounding far more decisive than he really was.

The man nodded. "This way," he said, and lead Izumi toward a spiral staircase and upward.

. . .

"Well, well, what a pleasant surprise. It's not every day I'm visited by royalty…" drawled a velvety voice as Izumi stepped into a room that was divided in half by thick, steel bars.

The room was larger than Izumi remembered and had a small barred window looking out over the ocean at least 50 feet up. There was a bed with a few pillows and blankets, nothing terribly ornate, but not in the filthy, dilapidated state that Izumi had been expecting. The cell was relatively clean, with a few books resting in a neat pile in the corner of the room.

The inmate herself was dressed in a clean, red tunic that reached her knees and covered her shoulders modestly. A black belt cinched around her waist, revealing a figure that was thin, but not unhealthily so. Izumi tried to mask his surprise at how… cozy she looked, locked away in a high-security prison.

Azula was turned away from him, gazing out the window, but at his silence she pulled away and faced him, mouth quirked up in a rueful smirk.

"Hello, nephew dearest."

Izumi nodded stiffly, unsure of what to say as the door swung shut behind him. Azula needed no prompting.

"Don't stand on ceremony on my account," she said dryly, folding her arms and jerking her head to indicate a chair on his side of the barred room.

"This won't be a long visit," Izumi said as he shook his head.

"Come to check on your favorite auntie? Or have you come to make sure that your favorite prisoner is still safe and sound, wasting away in her tower?"

"You don't look to be wasting away to me," Izumi said.

She raised an eyebrow, that wicked gleam reappearing in her amber eyes. "No? Were you expecting some savage creature scratching at the walls and eating crumbs off the floor with the rats?" She laughed, a mirthless hum that sent shivers down his spine. "I see you got the ruthless streak your father always lacked."

"My father, _the Fire Lord_ , seems to be doing very well for himself without that ruthless streak," he retorted, working hard to keep his face impassive.

" _The Fire Lord_? Really? That's what you call him?" She rolled her eyes. "I guess your daddy passed on his rigid sense of duty and honor instead. How fun for you."

Izumi clenched his jaw. "I didn't come here to listen to you criticize my father."

Azula jumped on that. "Then why are you here, little Izumi?" She stalked slowly toward the bars, coming to stand directly in front of him and looking into his eyes. She was tall for a woman, having grown in prison to stand nearly as tall as he was.

Those emotionless eyes saw his split second of hesitation and lit up with delight. "You look lost, Izumi. You don't know why you're here, or what to do next, do you? You've got the weight of the world on your shoulders and you have no one to help you carry that."

He shifted his weight. The movement seemed to confirm something in her mind as she continued, "Where's daddy? Surely if you're so lost, your great and powerful Fire Lord would be the first person to make everything go away, wouldn't he?" she sneered.

Izumi said nothing.

"Unless…" her mouth spread into a small smile, "Daddy isn't home, is he? Zuzu has flown the nest and left you here, all alone, to clean up the mess. No wonder you look so down, I remember what that was like, little nephew. Not a fun job, is it?"

"I've had enough of this nonsense," Izumi announced as cold sweat ran down his spine. He spun around, heading for the door, when her voice stopped him.

"Wait!" He froze, not turning to see her. "Please," she whispered and a rare note of anxiety leaked into her voice. He did turn at that and was shocked to see her gripping the bars with white knuckles. Her face was stony, but he saw in the set of her brows that she was more upset than she wanted to let on.

She cleared her throat and loosened her grip. "If I apologize, will you stay and… and we can talk?"

Instantly, Izumi was suspicious. "I don't think it counts if the apology is bargained for."

She rolled her eyes upward to look at the ceiling. "An apology is an apology, little prince. You should be grateful and take what is offered to you."

"Why do you want me to stay so badly?" he asked softly, ignoring her. He moved closer to the bars gingerly, as though he was approaching a dangerous animal. She had betrayed a moment of weakness, one that Izumi had no problem exploiting.

Some people called him manipulative. He preferred to think of it as social navigation.

Azula pulled away from the bars and hugged her sides. "Look, it's not exactly like I'm swarmed with company up here. Even I deserve a little conversational stimulation, don't I?" She stared at him defiantly, daring him to disagree. When he didn't she continued. "Besides, I see so much of myself in you, it seems a shame to waste the opportunity to have a meaningful discussion, doesn't it?"

Shocked, Izumi took another step forward. "You see yourself in me?" The idea was not a comforting one.

She waved a hand dismissively. "Of course I do. You are the prodigy, the perfect child, the one with all the responsibility and expectations. You demand excellence and will settle for nothing less, not even in yourself. Everyone around you seems to always let you down, and the pressure of never quite being good enough is what drives you to become better, stronger, more powerful."

Without realizing it, Izumi had taken a seat after all. Azula paced slowly along the bars as she spoke.

"You were born lucky, but raised to be invincible."

Izumi's heart stopped cold at the familiarity, the truth, of the words. But still, he betrayed nothing in his expression.

"Much as you hate it, you are your sister's keeper. For me, it was my brother, the screw-up, the one who made all the messes for you to clean up. Everyone always expected Zuko to fail, but me? I always had to be perfect. And don't get me wrong, I _was_ perfect, but I didn't realize that it would come at such a cost…" she momentarily faltered, looking into his eyes as she passed in front of him.

"I made mistakes. Fatal ones. And now I am here, paying for them." She gestured at the small window. "The bigger they are…" Izumi glanced at the opening, imagining the steep drop that waited outside of it.

"Have you never tried to make amends?" Izumi asked quietly, voicing the question that had always nagged at him about his family's incarceration.

She looked away from him, striding to straighten the already-straight stack of books. "I must have used up all of my second chances," she said in a tone that was falsely indifferent. Izumi could hear the sadness underneath the casual reply, though.

"But you were just a kid when everything happened. Has my father never given you the chance to make amends as an adult? Why are you still here if you recognize you were wrong?"

She stood at that, rigid and proud. "I'm not entirely sure I was wrong," she replied. "I followed orders, just like everyone else. I followed them exceptionally well, in fact. So well that I was the first and only one to accomplish what my father sent me to do. I conquered Ba Sing Se! I don't believe that the things I did were any more or less wrong than what the rest of the fire nation army did, and they get to walk around, living their lives in freedom!" She gestured again at the window.

"You tried to kill my father," Izumi pointed out evenly.

Her shoulders drooped a little. "I was ordered to kill your father."

"And you were ready to do it, even though it was wrong?"

Her eyes flashed angrily. "Let me ask you this: What would you have done if your father commanded you to do it?"

Izumi recoiled at the idea of harming his sister. Seeing his look, Azula backtracked.

"Zuko was always the favorite of my mother, while I was the cold monster she never really loved. Don't pretend you don't know what that's like. I've seen the way your beloved _perfect_ parents treat you and your sister. They dote on her and completely overlook all the times she fails, while you are held to impossible standards and get no praise or recognition for all you sacrifice for her. That was once me, Izumi."

She approached the bars again.

"I was once there. I watched as Zuko defied my father, let the avatar escape, and betrayed the Fire Nation… yet still, at the end of the day, everyone was ready to welcome back the prodigal son. So yes. When my father demanded I kill him, I didn't hesitate. My father banished, burned, and rejected my brother for speaking out of line. I wasn't about to get the same treatment for disobeying him. It was me, or Zuko. And I was never a huge fan of Zuko anyway."

Her voice dropped to a volume so low, only the echo of the stone walls carried it to Izumi's ears. "Funny how no one ever mentions how he was ready to kill me too."

Izumi tried to school his features into indifference, but it was hard not to react to that allegation.

She shrugged, pulling away from the bars and moving to sit on the bed. "Fine. I can see you don't believe me. But as they say, it takes two to tango. Your _oh-so-good-now_ father was there, firing away at me too. I did what I had to do, Izumi, just like he did, and just like you're doing now. The only difference between you and me is that I ended up on the losing side." She picked up a book and cracked it open to read.

Sensing the conversation was over, Izumi rose from his seat and walked toward the door. As he reached to knock, Azula spoke once more.

"If you ever want to talk, I'll be here, nephew. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'll be here indefinitely, so any secrets you share will probably rot away in here with me. Just a thought."

Finally, Izumi left, head swirling with confusing thoughts and emotions and pounding harder than ever.


	21. Chapter 21: Supreme Ruler of the World

**Chapter 21**

 _Supreme Ruler of the World_

Soon, so soon now, his plan was coming to fruition. He had made it this far, sticking close to his pathetic human emissaries, purely for convenience. They remained largely unaware of his plans of domination… for now.

Except for the scowling one. She was most displeased with his presence. Apparently, this one was not yet ready to be subjugated.

No matter, she would bow to his will in time.

This new human, the dark haired brooding one, seemed to be more of a kindred spirit. Of course, she was not nearly as brilliant, beautiful, or graceful as he, but he was growing rather fond of this new pet. She needed no training, so ready was she to stroke him in a pleasing manner, but not longer than he desired. He refrained from attacking her to remind her of her place.

The other one would need more work.

All humans would bow to his will soon enough. One by one, he would conquer and train every being to worship and respect him, at last showering him in the treatment he deserved.

He stalked silently across the ground, coming to stand before the hideous human lying prone on the ground.

 _Foolish being, to leave herself so vulnerable_.

He extended a vicious claw and extended it toward her closed eyelids.

Suddenly, a movement to his right distracted him from his lesson in submission. It was a rodent of some kind. Excellent. He'd been rather hungry and his useless human minions had yet to provide him with sustenance.

He darted away from the sleeping human and dove after the small creature in the darkness.

He would punish the human later.

. . .

 **Author's Note**

Hello readers!

First of all, I want to thank you all for reading this little fanfic! It started out as just a little story to pass the time, but now it's pretty much become a novel in my head. There are many more chapters to come, I promise. I think I'm a little less than halfway done, and I'm anticipating around 50 chapters or so, maybe more depending on how I divide it out.

Second, I want to apologize for my super long hiatus. I got swamped with work and school and this just fell to the bottom of my priorities. However, I will try to become more consistent in posting new chapters from here on out.

Third, if you like this story, check out my other ATLA fanfic little stories. They were written for a competition and some are better than others, but I'm especially proud of my fanfic about Jet.

If you're liking the series so far, please leave a review! I would love to hear your thoughts, ideas, questions, or suggestions!

Aaaand now I'll get into some of the details you don't get from the story itself.

I originally wrote the story to be about Zuko and Katara's daughter, Izumi, since I'm a hardcore Zutara fan and I had other ideas about what happened post-war to lead to the Republic City we see in Korra.

HOWEVER I don't really love the direction Korra went, so I just ignored a lot of those things and stuck to my own vision.

Izumi was going to be a prodigy child, just like all the main characters of ATLA seem to be… but then I rewatched the ATLA series and realized how much I felt connected to the side of Zuko that was kind of a mess, not a prodigy, not especially powerful, just a raw, relatable character.

And then I created Kairo. A mix of Kya and Iro, with her nickname being Ira in an opposite mix, Kairo is a walking disaster, just like me. She is smart and sarcastic, but feels out of place and lost, not sure what she's supposed to do in life.

I wanted Izumi to be a direct foil to her character, so I made him Zuko's son instead of his daughter.

Torrin is the goofy, fun, but complex character I'm always looking for in novels and am disappointed to never find. His earthbending represents the more grounded and stable part of his character, which really completes Kairo's wandering soul.

Toph and Aang isn't really my OTP, but it's hard to really get a sense of either of them and romance when I can't get over the fact that Aang is TWELVE in the series, and therefore anything romantic is completely absurd and irrelevant in my eyes. He and Katara make no sense to me, because he's still very obviously a child and Katara is pretty much an adult woman by the end of the series, after everything she went through. Zuko is perfect for her because he's also basically been forced to become an adult at such a young age, and both of them just have this emotional maturity that they connect with, where Aang does not.

I hate how Aang can be so condescending sometimes to Katara, where Zuko would never dream of judging her when he completely understands and respects where she's coming from.

Anyway, Toph makes sense to me as the force that grounds Aang's wandering nature. She is so fiercely independent that she wouldn't want anyone clingly or repressive, which is why the flighty and busy Avatar would be an ideal match for her, but both of them have this quirky sense of humor that cuts through tense situations and keeps them from being too serious, unlike Katara and Zuko who approach things more thoughtfully and seriously.

And Sokka… well, he's coming up, so I won't say anything more here.

You probably have made the connections as to who the other side characters are, or rather, who their parents are, like Jan Li. Her character in particular is my way of paying homage to the original, without the underdevelopment that always bugged me about the finale of ATLA. More to come on that.

Once again, thank you all for sticking with this story for so long. I hope not to disappoint!


	22. Chapter 22: No Help in Ba Sing Se

**Chapter 22**

 _There is No Help in Ba Sing Se_

"You're grumpy."

"Shut up."

"It's not like you, Torrin. Auden's the only one allowed to be grumpy. We've reached our grumpy limit."

"Thanks, Lyn."

"Don't take it personally, Aud. My mother always says we need the grumpy ones to balance things out in the universe. But _this guy_ ," she pointed an accusatory finger in Torrin's direction, "is throwing everything off with all his moping."

She turned to him with concern in her face. "You never mope, Torrin. Will you at least tell us what's got you so down?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Maya interrupted. "He's missing his girlfriend."

That got his attention. He tore his eyes from the window and glared at them. "No I'm not."

They all exchanged meaningful looks.

"And she's not my girlfriend."

Eyebrows lifted all around.

That irked him. "I mean it guys, stop it. She lied about who she was, about _everything,_ and burned down our camp and ran off. She's a lot of things, but my 'girlfriend' is not one of them. She's not even my friend."

Lyn's face fell. "Torrin, you and I both know she didn't burn anything down. She wouldn't. And from what I've heard about the Fire Princess, she probably couldn't if she wanted to. Rumor has it she's… not the best bender… but she's super smart and kind!" she added, as though the guilt of criticizing her was too much to leave by itself.

"You talked to her for what, five minutes and suddenly you're converted?" Torrin snapped.

Lyn recoiled and Maya got to her feet. "Okay Torrin, enough! We get it, you're upset, but that doesn't give you the right to take it out on us. I thought we went over this when you lost your dad. Snap out of it!"

He was prepared to ignore this and go back to looking out the window when Auden unexpectedly chimed in. "They have a point, Torrin."

All eyes fell on him.

"She lied about her identity, but that doesn't mean she lied about _everything_. You're being overdramatic." Torrin's cheeks heated. "She probably didn't burn down the camp either, which means that someone else must have, which means you need to get over yourself and stop yelling at your friends and focus up instead. We need to find the rest of the Rebellion and find a new place to set up. You need to track down Bazil. None of that is going to be possible if you carry on like this."

Auden never yelled at him. He didn't really need to, he just had this scary quiet voice that was as firm as steel. At these harsh words, Torrin finally felt the gloom in his mind lifting. Auden was, once again, completely right. He wasn't doing anyone any good by brooding.

He smiled apologetically at Lyn. "I'm sorry, beautiful. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I'm just… frustrated."

She smiled kindly in return. "You and me both, handsome. And my ankle is killing me!" She winced as she rolled her foot. An angry red burn marred her skin there from the fire. The sight of it got Torrin's mind back on track.

Someone hurt his friends, and he was going to get to the bottom of it… right after he tracked down Bazil and strangled him for sending him on a wild chase in the Fire Nation with a note that just said:

" _Sorry old friend, I couldn't stick around. Client waiting in Ba Sing Se. You can leave the cargo in the hideout here and I'll get your payment once you make your way here. Shuron has everything you need in Colonies. Good luck!"_

He didn't even know who Shuron was, for starters! Bazil, the shady merchant, was going to get an earful when Torrin caught up with him in Ba Sing Se.

He, Auden, Lyn, and Maya were all on their way to the walled city in the brand-new cross-continental train system. They were in a trolley that was pushed across an endless track from the old Colonies to Ba Sing Se by uniformed earthbenders. It was the final contribution of the old king of Ba Sing Se before he stepped down and was replaced by a council of elected officials from each of the different "rings" in the kingdom.

Once there, he would track down Bazil and demand the answers he was promised while Auden and the others looked for the intercity Rebellion members to ask for supplies and help setting up a new camp back in the colonies.

But as it turns out, they didn't need to go that far.

"Excuse me, did I hear you say you were looking for Bazil?" A kind woman standing on the other side of the train car gently interrupted, prompting the group to turn in their seats toward her.

Auden nodded cautiously.

"Why, he's just in the next car over! He tried to sell me some beautiful bracelets, but I promised my husband I wouldn't buy anything else until I make it back home," she said sheepishly as she gestured to the bags of items in her hands.

Instantly, Torrin was standing. "That sounds like the guy," he told her, omitting the thought that these bracelets were probably way overpriced and of questionable quality. "Which one is he in?"

She gestured to the left. "That way! He's got a pretty big crowd around him, you can't miss him!"

They thanked her and made their way toward the door, determined to hop off at the next stop and switch train cars as soon as possible. Torrin had a hand wrapped around Lyn's waist, taking some of her weight off of her injured leg.

As the train rolled into the next stop, they forced their way into Bazil's crowd in the next train car. Luckily, Torrin's towering height gave him a perfect view over the heads of the gathered people of the conman working his magic.

And it gave Bazil a good view of him. He looked up with a predatory grin at the newcomers…

And his face fell.

 _Busted_.


	23. Chapter 23: A Death in the Family

**Chapter 23**

 _A Death in the Family_

Zuko grabbed a fistful of ashes and clenched them tightly, watching silently as they slipped through his fingers and fell in a dark cloud to the scorched ground.

"Zuko…" his wife's quiet, worried voice broke the quiet air. He stood in an abrupt motion and enveloped her in a tight hug, closing his eyes tightly against the destruction around him.

"We…we were too late…" Katara whispered into his chest. He ran a hand over her hair, unable to find words.

"Not necessarily."

The frantic couple looked up to find a familiar bounty hunter astride an enormous creature looking down at them with an unreadable expression.

"You said you tracked her here," said Zuko in a tone that came out more accusatory than he'd intended. June rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I did, but if she was dead, we'd be able to sniff out her body, so your little trouble-maker is still out there… making trouble."

Zuko's hug turned into a restraint as Katara lunged toward her. "How DARE you joke about this! My daughter could be somewhere bleeding to death, or tortured, or held captive and you have the NERVE—"

"Can you pick up her scent?" Zuko interrupted before things got out of hand. After all, he could hear the soft rumble of a river not far off, and Katara had a dangerous glint in her eye that always foretold chaos.

June shook her head. "The smoke is too thick here, but I can tell you that she probably headed for the forest, that way. See the footprints?" She pointed east to a space between the trees. "A huge group of people passed along the river in the opposite direction, but there's not a single trace of her scent going that way. She must have branched off with her partner into the trees."

Zuko frowned. "Where are they going?"

Katara pulled away from him angrily. "Are we not even going to address what _happened here_? I need to know if she's hurt. Why is everything burned to ashes and WHY—" she whirled around to march toward the fourth member of their party, "did you tell me she was safe in a camp full of people?!"

Aang was ashen-faced and somber. "I swear she was perfectly safe when I left her, Katara…"

"Then why did you leave her? Why didn't you take her with you?" she shouted, but then her voice dropped to a trembling whisper, "Why didn't you bring her home, Aang?"

Aang's shoulders hunched, defeated. "I'm so sorry, Katara. I thought it would be best for her to stay here, with her friends to protect her until I could bring you to her. I didn't think she would come with me, I… I'm sorry."

His expression softened her and she threw her arms around her best friend, who was probably almost as worried about Kairo as she and Zuko were.

"We'll find her," he murmured into her hair. "She's tough, like her mother. She'll be fine. Remember how often we went wandering through the woods on our own after escaping some disaster? Plus, we know she's got someone with her, so she's not alone out there."

"It's different when it's your kids' safety, Aang. I can't bear to think of her getting hurt."

Aang hesitated before stating his next thought. "Well, if she is hurt, she probably won't get very far…" before Katara could pull back and strangle him, he hastily added, "we should keep an eye out in nearby villages for her."

"That may be a bit of a problem," said Zuko with a grimace. As Katara and Aang had been talking, he'd gone to speak with a Fire Nation footsoldier for an update on the Rebellion status. "This was the Rebel base camp, and allegedly a rogue Fire Nation soldier burned it down last night. There's practically a bounty on the head of any fire bender or Fire Nation official in the area right now."

Katara groaned and put her head in her hands. "Just when I thought it couldn't get worse…"

Zuko put his hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, Katara. Kairo is a smart girl. She knows how to stay out of dodge. I mean, she's stayed ahead of us so far, and we know she didn't go with the rest of the Rebellion, so she probably knows to keep her head low 'till this all blows over."

"So… what to we do now?" Aang asked in the silence that followed Zuko's assurance.

Zuko rubbed a hand over his scarred face before speaking. "We don't stand much of a chance finding her wandering around in the trees. Trust me, I did it for years trying to hunt you down," his eyes were warm as he looked over at Aang, though his face was still grave, "and with this terrorist act made to look like the Fire Nation tells me that our trouble with the Rebellion is just beginning. I think… the best move is for us to head to the colo— I mean, the Republic." Katara made to object, but he cut her off. "We can regroup there with Sokka and get him and his resources to help us keep an eye out for Kairo. She's probably on her way there anyway, it's the only place she'll be safe with everyone out to get Fire Nation natives."

Aang and Katara exchanged looks, and then turned to face him with determined nods.

"So sorry to interrupt this moment," June piped in from behind them. They all turned to find her on the ground leaning against her beast, arms folded and one ankle crossed over the other casually. "Yeah, I'm still here."

"Sorry, we were… distracted," Katara said in a tight voice.

June flicked a wrist as though to whisk away the issue. "Whatever, I just wanted to point out the messenger hawk coming in hot," she said, pointing into the sky at a speeding bird headed for Zuko.

He reached up and snatched it, unfolding the scroll attached to its leg. His face drained of color as he read, giving him a haunted expression. Instantly alarmed, Katara went to his side. "What is it? Is it Kairo?" she demanded.

Zuko shook his head and stared vacantly across the scorched campground. The paper fluttered to the ground. Aang sent a burst of smoky air up to push the paper into his hands. He read it aloud.

"Fire Lord Zuko,

The unthinkable has occurred. We request your immediate return to the palace. Prisoner Ozai was discovered dead in his cell this morning, along with the guards posted at his door. I will send word with more information as it becomes available.

Signed,

Counselor Tang."


	24. Chapter 24: Mother Mai I

**Chapter 24**

 _Mother Mai I_

"You do know where we're going, right?"

"Of course I do. Now shut up, you're distracting me."

"Well if you're so confident then my distracting you shouldn't be that much of an issue."

"It is when the sound of your voice makes me want to jump off the nearest cliff!"

"Whoa there, was that really necessary?"

"Yes, I believe it was."

"Why do you always have to be so…"

"Don't even think about finishing that sentence."

I huffed loudly but didn't argue. I was too hot and tired to, anyway.

I felt awful. We'd been walking for nearly a day and a half, sometimes in the shade of the trees, sometimes under the scorching sun across dry, cracked land. The air was dry and hot in a way I wasn't used to, growing up on a tropical island. My hair was dirty and infused with sweat, clinging to my sticky face. My feet hurt, I hadn't eaten more than an apple in… I couldn't even remember how long.

And Jan Li was the worst walking companion in the world.

With a painful pang in my chest, I realized that it wasn't really Jan Li's fault I was so cranky.

If I was honest with myself, it was because I was missing Torrin.

Traveling with him had been so easy, despite all the near-death experiences. He was funny, easy-going, and he loved to talk to me… which felt… really nice. Few people back home were interested in what I had to say.

People my age always treated me like I thought I was better than everyone else, just because I had a developed vocabulary, sophisticated opinions about politics, and no patience for petty drama. So I tried the older crowd, like Izumi's friends, but they just compared me to Izumi and found me lacking, so I was out there too.

Torrin never judged me. He joked that I was too smart for him, but he seemed so fascinated by everything I had to say, and he wasn't afraid to call me out like my peers back home were.

I supposed that would have to change, now that he knew who I was.

Glumly, I sauntered after Jan Li.

She glanced over her shoulder at me as she gracefully stepped over a tree stump. Unfortunately, I was so caught up in my moping that I completely missed it and did a nice face-plant in the dirt over it, scraping my shin against the stump.

I cursed and scrambled to my feet, pointing a finger at her. "Don't you dare."

She raised an eyebrow in false innocence, but the corner of her mouth twitched.

"I don't think you ever open your eyes all the way, did you know that?" I spat, knowing it was childish, but not caring in my grumpy humiliation. "Even when you're mocking me, your eyes are squinty and judgey, and you have this permanent look of apathy."

Her eyes narrowed even further to tiny, grey slits.

"Actually, I am aware of that. Some people say I look like my mother that way."

"Your mother must be a—"

Before I could blink, Jan Li was right there in my face, holding a small, curved dagger I'd never even seen her carry up to my cheek.

"Finish that thought," she hissed, "and I cut you."

I blinked in utter shock.

"…lovely person…" I breathed. "She must be a lovely person."

She pulled away from me, a small, satisfied smirk on her face. "That's what I thought."

She continued on without me and it took a moment before I could get my legs to carry me onward. I ignored my stinging shin and jogged after her.

"Have you been carrying that this whole time?" I asked her warily.

She shrugged. "Of course I have. You didn't think I'd go wandering around the kingdom defenseless, did you?"

I thought of the mask and blade strapped to my back. "No, I guess not. I just didn't realize that you were… you know, trained in… anything…"

She shot me a look. "My mother taught me a few things. These are from her." She pulled out three identical knives from a pocket in her sleeve. "It took some practice to get them out of these earth kingdom sleeves without cutting myself, but I manage."

That struck something in me. "You're from the Fire Nation," I said, matter-of-factly.

"Yes."

"Who's your family?"

She stiffened. "The Fire Nation is a big place. I doubt you would know."

 _I beg to differ._

"Try me anyway."

"My mother is Mai, daughter of the former governor Ukano. My father was an Earth Kingdom shopowner, but now they're both Fire Nation Emissaries living in Ba Sing Se."

I stopped dead in my tracks. I knew that name. I knew that name _well._

The one and only time I'd ever witnessed my parents fighting, (which had started when my mother sided with Aang over a political issue instead of my father,) they threw in the subject of their exes, my mother having had a history I wasn't privy to with Aang, and my father having dated a girl named _Mae_. I still didn't know the whole story, and frankly, I was a little scared to ask, but I knew that she was a Fire Nation noble with connections to my aunt Azula and a tenancy to be cold and unfeeling.

That had to be her.

Jan Li noticed I'd stopped. She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You're not the only one who's connected, miss _I'm friends with the prince_."

I didn't really know what to say to that.

She sighed. "Look, I know my family is filthy rich and friends with the royals, and I know my parents were involved in a lot of the trade between Ba Sing Se and the Fire Nation, but that doesn't make me any less motivated in the Rebellion's cause, and it doesn't mean you have to treat me any differently."

She cocked her head, considering for a moment. "Although, if this information makes you want to stop talking to me completely, I would be fine with that."

I ignored that and pushed ahead, mind swirling. I was travelling with the daughter of my father's ex. Was Mae bitter about how things ended? Did she resent him? Did she resent _us_ , the family he had with another woman? How did Jan Li feel about any of it?

Finally, I couldn't keep my questions to myself. "So… your mom used to… you know… be involved with the Fire Lord, right?"

Jan Li looked sharply at me. "Actually, she was. How did you know that?"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Huge know-it-all, remember?"

She hummed skeptically.

"Well… so… how does your mother feel about him now?" I asked tentatively.

She scoffed. "She's not still pining away for him, if that's what you're asking. She found the person she was meant to be with, and that wasn't the Fire Lord. She doesn't talk about him much. She says they're both private people and leaves it at that."

Relief washed over me at that. "So how do _you_ feel about it?"

She was quiet for a while as she thought. "I think I resent him a little."

I stared at her in surprise.

"I'm part of a movement trying to break away from the man, and my mother's connection to him makes that a little hard for me. Not to mention the fact that, if things were different, maybe I would have been born the Fire Princess with some actual power to _do something_ , not just wander around the Earth Kingdom with refugees," she finished pointedly.

My face heated. "What would you do if you were the Fire Princess?"

She waved aside the question with a hand. "It doesn't matter. I'm not the Fire Princess and never will be, unless I somehow marry into that role, but it sounds like you've probably got me beat there." Her grey eyes roamed over me skeptically, as though wondering how I managed that.

I was about to open my mouth and retort with a snarky, _Actually…_

…when she stopped abruptly in front of me.

"We made it."

I glanced beyond her and dropped my jaw. Just down the hill from where we stood was a city teeming with people, all seeming to travel to and from the large building at the center, which rested over walled tracks leading away from the city.

"This is the city?" I asked in confusion. The books and maps back home made it look so much bigger than this.

She sniffed. "Of course not, idiot. It's the nearest port-town with a railway. We'll take that," she pointed to the tracks, "to our final destination. Shouldn't take more than a few hours."

I couldn't stop the grin that spread over my face. From all my cartography classes, I knew exactly where we were now. I felt giddy at the excitement that I was finally going to ride the railways I'd been studying for years!

Not even the baleful meowing from Jan Li's bag could take away my anticipation. Maybe this whole journey wasn't so bad after all.


	25. Chapter 25: Yue

**Chapter 25**

 _Yue_

Jan Li and I made our way to the center of the teeming town where the train station stood, large and proud.

I was in love.

Small stands selling all kinds of things lined the streets. Some food carts with steaming plates of meat and dumplings had my mouth watering. Other stands with strange fruits and vegetables caught my eye. We passed other stands showcasing jewelry and trinkets, which I didn't really care about but still piqued my curiosity.

Jan Li didn't seem to appreciate any of it.

She marched ahead, weaving through the shoppers without a second glance at any of the mystery items. I tried to keep up with her, stumbling over people and mumbling apologies left and right.

People were staring at me as I struggled along the busy road, and a quick glance down reminded me that, not only was I clumsy, but I was also still dressed in all black. With the coins weighing down my shoes and my pack, I figured it would be a wise idea to pick up some Earth Kingdom clothes sometime soon.

I was just about to voice this idea to Jan Li when I looked up and realized she had completely left me behind.

"Jan Li?" I called, straining on tiptoe to try and spot her silky black hair. She was nowhere to be found. "JAN LI?" I tried again. No luck.

"Of course…" I grumbled, fighting my way through the crowd until I spotted a large crate beside one of the fruit stands. I made my way over to it and tested the sturdiness with a hand, then hauled myself on top of it, ignoring the vendor's cry of objection.

I stared over the crowd, frantically searching for signs of my companion. "JAN LI YOU GET BACK HERE OR I SWEAR ON THE SPIRITS I WILL—"

"Kairo, what on earth are you doing?"

At the sound of my real name, I stumbled backward. My arms swung wildly as I teetered off the edge of the crate and tumbled in a heap on the ground, landing hard on my backside. I sucked in a breath at the pain.

A familiar giggle sounded from above me. "Well that was graceful."

I gaped up at the voice, squinting against the sun.

"Yue?" I whispered in disbelief.

She laughed again and hauled me up with a slender, tanned hand.

"Never thought I'd run into you here, cousin!" said the young woman brightly. She was taller than I remembered, towering at least a head over me and grinning brightly. Her skin was dark and her eyes a brilliant blue, like her father's, but her smile and dark hair that glinted red in the sunlight was all her mother's. She wore a dark blue, sleeveless water-tribe tunic over white leggings, a twist on the traditional outfits of the Northern Water Tribe where she grew up. Like her mother, Yue was too much of a free-spirited traveler to stay there for too long, though, so the last I heard, she was working with her father in the old Fire Nation Colonies. Which meant…

"Is Uncle Sokka here?" I asked her in alarm as I brushed off my clothes.

She tilted her head, the feathered earring dangling from her right ear brushing her bare shoulder. "No, he's in Republic City working out some trade stuff. I took the week off with some friends to travel the Earth Kingdom! So what are you doing here?"

I was saved from having to answer by the approach of another familiar face.

"Kairo! It's been forever, what's up? How's Izumi?" Tyro, an Earth Kingdom boy who was Izumi and Yue's age jogged up to meet us. I vaguely remember him from when we were growing up and his father, Haru, came over every so often with his family.

"He's good, you know, as usual," I mumbled.

"Probably solving all the world's problems all on his own, eh?" he said with a wink.

I smiled weakly. "You know Izumi…"

Yue laughed. "Poor guy needs to lighten up. Life's no fun without a little rule-breaking every now and then, am I right?" she high-fived Tyro. "Remember how we used to drive him crazy with all our pranks and crazy adventures?"

She must have been talking to Tyro, because I was always too young to play with the big kids. I stood there, a little uncomfortable, as they reminisced.

"Anyway," she said after they finished laughing, "where's the family?" she peered over my head, looking for them. "Did everyone come down with you?"

Now I was really uncomfortable.

And it only got worse.

"There you are, Ira. I got us both tickets for the next train to the New Republic Station. Try not to get lost next—" Jan Li stopped abruptly as she took in the two people standing in front of me. Cold dread filled my soul as I realized what was about to happen here, and I couldn't do a thing to stop it.

"Ira?" Tyro asked in confusion, eyebrows furrowed. He looked at me and frowned. "Is that a new nickname, Kairo?"

"Kairo?" Jan Li demanded, face setting into a furious glower.

"Don't tell me you changed your name, Kairo," Tyro went on, setting a hand on my shoulder, "I think it's a pretty name, and I know how proud the Fire Lord and Lady were of coming up with it. My dad talks about it all the time and how he wished there was a way to combine his father's name with anything else to make it sound that good when they were coming up with mine."

"Thank you, Tyro. That's helpful," I mumbled, not meeting Jan Li's eyes.

It didn't matter. She pulled herself up to her fullest height and stared down at me in cold fury. "You… are… the… Fire… Princess… Kairo…" she spat out between gritted teeth.

I shuffled my feet in the dirt. Tyro's hand fell away from my arm awkwardly.

Yue frowned, looking between me and Jan Li with dawning comprehension.

"Well," she said coolly, "it seems you have been doing some rule-breaking of your own, little cousin."


	26. Chapter 26: Bartering and Backtracking

**Chapter 26**

 _Bartering and Backtracking_

"Long time no see, old friend. Did ya miss me?"

Torrin had Bazil, the sleezy salesman, cornered against the walls of the station the moment the train car was pushed to a stop. Usually, he had a slow-burning temper, but after the week he'd just had, he was in no mood to play games.

"Torrin my boy!" Bazil exclaimed weakly, "What a pleasant surprise! I was actually hoping to run into you sometime, you see—"

"Oh shove it, Baz. You told me to bring the contraband to your base in the Fire Nation, risking my life multiple times over in the process, and you would be there to give me the information I've been looking for. Instead, I find an empty warehouse and a pathetic-" he pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, "little-" he shoved it in Bazil's face, " _note_."

Bazil chuckled nervously. "What can I say, a traveling salesman like myself can't be grounded in one place for too long. We need to _travel_ , it's in the name!"

"You need to deliver on your promises. I held up my end of the deal, now talk."

Bazil's eyes shifted left and right rapidly, searching for a way out. Unfortunately for him, Auden was standing behind him, arms folded, face dark and brooding. Torrin was angry, sure, but Auden was by far more intimidating.

"Okay, okay. Look, the truth is that I couldn't come up with as much information as you wanted—wait! Wait!" he cried as Torrin seized the front of his shirt in fury. "The army records say that Rai and his son were captured in the first siege of Ba Sing Se and were taken to a war prison somewhere in the Fire Nation. But after the prison was shut down after the war and the prisoners were liberated, I can't find any record of your father at all."

A sick feeling began to settle in the pit of Torrin's stomach. "What about his son? Did you find anything about my brother?"

Bazil looked defeated and a little desperate. "Only a handful of rumors saying he left the prison and went back to the Earth Kingdom. I lost track after that. One of his old war buddies said he talked about going back for some girl and settling down in the colonies."

 _Some girl? My brother had a girlfriend?_

"So you're saying he's in the old Fire Nation colonies?" Torrin demanded.

Bazil held up his hands defensively and shook his head. "Now, now, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I said he _might_ be in there, but I don't have a lot of hard info to back that up so if he's not there…" he shrugged. "Don't shoot the messenger."

Frustrated, Torrin pushed away from him, "accidentally" shoving Bazil into the wall a little. The moment the man was freed from his grasp, he took off and vanished into the crowd, clutching his sack of shady goods.

Auden came up to Torrin and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry there wasn't more he could tell you."

Torrin sighed. "I always knew it was a long shot. At least now I know that my brother is probably still out there somewhere."

"What about your father, Tor?" came a quiet voice from behind. Lyn was leaning on Maya to take the weight off of her injured ankle. Her big, brown eyes were wide and full of sorrow.

He shook his head. "I don't think he made it out of whatever prison they sent him to." A lump was forming in his throat. He always knew that the possibility that his family was still alive was slim, but hearing it confirmed was harder than he'd thought it would be.

Lyn reached out a hand to him. "I'm so sorry. I know this must be difficult for you."

Torrin took her hand with a tight smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Thanks, Lyn." He took a deep breath and straightened up, back to business. "Let's go find a place to stay for the night before we decide what to do."

Maya brightened at the words. "Oh, we don't have to worry about that! We can stay at my mother's place above her tea shop!"

. . .

The four of them wandered up to a large building with what looked like a big round disk with a design of a white flower on it hanging above the entryway. Instead of a door, a floral green curtain was hanging off to the side to allow them to enter.

Maya walked in first, running up to the counter to throw her arms around a pretty woman with dark hair that stuck straight up in the back who was pouring a cup of tea. Startled, the woman set down the kettle and embraced Maya with a giddy laugh that sounded just like her daughter's.

"What are you doing here, Maya?!"

Maya pulled away, smiling. "We're doing some travelling, mother. We just made it to the city an hour ago, so we'll be needing a place to stay until we figure out where we're going next."

Her mother's face fell a little. "Of course you can all stay here but…How long will you be staying?"

Maya shrugged. "Just a day or two, I think."

Again, her mother looked dejected. "You're sure you can't stay longer? There's plenty of room here! And… you know how much your father and I miss you…"

Maya's expression softened. "I miss you too, mom." A tender silence fell between them, interrupted by Auden.

"Thank you for your hospitality, ma'am," he said, stepping forward and bowing his head.

Maya snapped back to life. "Oh, right. Mom, this is Auden, and that's Torrin, and that's Lyn. Her ankle was burned pretty badly in a fire, so I'll ask Dad to whip up a poultice if he's not too busy," she said and bustled back through another curtain behind the counter.

Left alone with her mother, the other three shuffled uncomfortably. Her mother smiled warmly at them. "You are all welcome here for as long as you like! My name is Jin and I run The Pai Sho Tea Shop!"

Lyn looked around happily at the cozy ambiance of the place. "This place is so cute! I love it!"

Jin chuckled. "We like to make this place feel as warm and welcoming as we can. Not a lot of people know this, but," she leaned over the counter to whisper dramatically, "The Pai Sho was started by General Iro when he retired from the Fire Lord's council and came back to Ba Sing Se! I met him and his nephew briefly during the war, so when he came back he hired me to be a shop girl and then passed off the whole thing to me and my husband when he passed on." A soft look entered into her eyes. "He was a great man."

Torrin's stomach churned. Just the reminder of the royal family made him feel a strange uneasiness, like he was torn between guilt and betrayal. It didn't help that the girl who'd betrayed him stole the old man's name to do it.

"Come on back to meet my dad, guys!" came Maya's voice from afar. "And Lyn, we have something for your ankle!"

Auden helped Lyn limp through the curtain with Torrin on his heels. But as he passed through the shop, he caught a glimpse of a portrait of an old man with a cup of steaming tea in his hands hanging above the doorway. His eyes were kind, his face serene, but there was something familiar about him that reminded him of the friend he'd left behind.

He ducked his head and went through the curtain, trying and failing to keep Ira, or Kairo, out of his mind.


	27. Chapter 27: Unfortunate Reunion

**Chapter 27**

 _Confrontation_

If Izumi had felt stressed under pressure at the beginning of the week, it was nothing compared to how he was feeling now.

The palace was in utter pandemonium. Everyone seemed to need to speak with the temporary Fire Lord urgently, a fleet of messenger hawks had been flying in and out of the palace for days, and the bustling gossip of the capital city could be heard around the clock. But really, who could blame them? Ozai had been murdered in his prison cell. It was the most exciting news the people had received since the war.

Unfortunately, all this noise and excitement meant that Izumi had a raging headache 24/7.

He had yet to visit the scene himself. Being an early riser, he'd already been up when the morning watch guard burst through the doors to the throne room, wide-eyed and panting, to break the news that Ozai was dead and the night guard was found strangled alongside him.

The palace had been a swarming hive of activity ever since. Izumi leaped into action, ordering the nearest general to send a message to his father immediately and commanding the panicked prison guard to seal off the scene. He instructed a nearby palace guard to round up officers to spread the word and send any available men down to the prison to help keep curious eyes away, knowing that the word would spread like wildfire. Then he was off, informing counselors and generals and trying to think of what he should say to the public.

How exactly did one tell the citizens that someone murdered his grandfather while he was safely tucked away in a maximum-security prison right after he paid the place a personal visit?

Not to mention the fact that several of his father's "trusted generals" were now eyeing him suspiciously and asking him what that visit was all about.

As though he ordered the hit! Honestly, it had only been about nine hours since the body had been discovered and already he was ready to go back to bed. If ONE more person insinuated that Izumi was a murderer, he might just prove them right.

A knock at the door pulled Izumi from his dark brooding. He squinted at the intruder and rubbed his temples. "What now?"

The guard who'd discovered the bodies bowed nervously, still looking a little pale and shaken. "We are awaiting your approval to move the, uh, bodies, Your Highness."

Izumi sighed. "Not yet. I want to see it for myself before anything gets moved." He sighed. "This is an absolute nightmare."

The guard shifted uncomfortably.

Izumi rose from his seat and gestured for the guard to lead the way, making a mental note to send the poor man home afterward. At least one of them should catch a break after the morning's chaos, and it wasn't likely to be the prince.

They descended the stairs, passing the floor that Izumi had visited so recently. He didn't even spare a glance in his aunt's direction, knowing and dreading that he would have to have a word with her later.

They reached his grandfather's cell, a place he'd only ever been to once in all his 19 years of life. It was dark and damp, kept simple with only a small bed as furniture, There were no books or windows like Azula's cell. The whole place reeked of mildew and filth. It was hellish and horrible.

Which was what the man deserved. According to public opinion.

Though he would never admit it out loud, the sight pricked a twinge of sympathy from Izumi's cold heart. True, Ozai had been a tyrant and a psychopath, but Izumi had never known the man or seen his atrocities for himself, other what than the images and words in history books portrayed. It was hard for him, therefore, to imagine that any person, no matter how evil, deserved this pitiful existence.

If anyone had the slightest idea that these thoughts were creeping through the mind of the Fire Prince, pandemonium would ensue.

Izumi resisted the urge to shudder in revulsion and moved through the open cell door. Slumped against the wall on the far wall was the crumpled body of his grandfather. With his head bowed, legs stretched before him, and torso slanted slightly to the side, he could have been merely napping. His hair was long and ratted, reaching nearly to the floor from his upright position; his hands were curled in fists, fingernails broken and bloodied, like he'd tried to defend himself.

As Izumi stepped closer to the body, he noted angry purple marks around Ozai's neck. He turned to see the second body of the guard lying on the floor beside Ozai with similar marks marring his slender neck, though the guard seemed to have been caught by surprise, as he showed no signs of defense.

"How did someone get through the outside guards?" Izumi asked quietly.

The guards keeping watch over the scene shuffled uncomfortably.

"We don't know, Your Highness. The guard reported no suspicious movements all night. There were guards posted at the entrance all night as well, and they reported no intruders. No one in, no one out."

Izumi rubbed his hands over his eyes, feeling a little sick now. He'd seen enough.

As he swept out of the cell and up the stairs, his escort jogged to keep up. "Excuse me, Your Highness, but what are your orders?"

"Release the guard's remains to his family with our deepest condolences and tell them that they will be appropriately compensated for their loss. Move my gr— move the prisoner's body into the war room in the palace and post guards at the door round the clock. Until I hear back from my father, no one steps foot in that room by order of the Fire Prince." He thundered up the steps rapidly as he barked the orders.

"Yes, Your Highness. Is there anything else you require?"

He paused at the main entrance, before turning around to stare at the prison staircase leading upward. "No, you may go. I need to have another chat with my aunt."


	28. Chapter 28: Like Lightning

**Chapter 28**

 _Like Lightning_

"Finally! Someone who can fill me in on all that racket going on downstairs. I was hoping to see you again, little nephew, but I'm a little surprised you're back so soon. Did my words of wisdom inspire you?"

"Azula, Ozai was found murdered in his cell last night." Izumi wasted no time in confronting his aunt.

Her eyes went wide and her entire body froze for just a moment, before lounging back on her bed with careless grace. "I'm not sure what you want me to say to that. Should I be outraged? Distraught? Angry? Sad, perhaps?" Her eyes fell to a spot of lint on her bedcovers, which she smoothed away with her hand.

Izumi narrowed his gaze on her.

"You had something to do with it."

A harsh sound escaped her, not quite a laugh, but a noise of bitter amusement. "So because I can't summon some fake tears, I must have killed the man?"

"I'm just finding it difficult to ignore that our last remaining homicidal inmate had nothing to do with this."

"Well, I'm flattered you think that I am somehow brilliant enough to murder someone from inside this nice little cell, here."

Izumi snarled, "Don't mock me, Azula. I don't believe for a second that it's merely coincidence that your father winds up dead only hours after our conversation yesterday."

Her golden eyes went wide and a sneering smile pulled up the corner of her mouth. "Are you so eager to blame me that you will ignore the fact that I have no motive, means, or opportunity to murder my father?" She ticked off her fingers as she spoke. Her voice was cool and collected, which was a bit unsettling, considering they were discussing cold-blooded murder.

"First, why would I kill my father?" She began pacing behind the bars like a predatory cat, keeping her head high and her eyes forward. "You have to understand, little nephew, that I do not love my father. I'm not sure I ever did. I respected him—feared him, more than any other man on Earth. But love? That was something that one did not feel from or towards Ozai. Looking back on my life these few years, I've realized that he promised me the world, but he robbed me of any chance of joy I might have had in it. He took my childhood, my family, my friends, and then his war cost me my freedom. Maybe I resented him for that. But mostly, I felt… indifferent."

She shrugged. "He's powerless now. I've outgrown him. He's beneath me, and I wouldn't spare him second thought, much less go through all the effort of taking his pathetic life," her last words came on a scornful snarl. Then she seemed to shake off her animosity and resumed her casual pacing.

"Plus," she added, "when he was alive, I was only the second-worst bad guy here. Now I guess I've inherited that throne, and I can't say that it's a role I've really coveted. No one wants to be the heir to insanity."

Silence filled the room. For the first time since Izumi had entered, he detected a note of true sorrow in her voice, in the tiniest droop in her shoulders. But before he could dwell on it, her matter-of-fact tone was back and her expression was careless as always.

"Second, how could I have murdered him from in here? I'm sure my guards already told you that I haven't left my cell in, oh, a little while. There's no way I could have gotten out, sneaked past my guards and my father's guards, killed him, and made my way out unseen. It's just not possible." She shook her head solemnly, almost like she was sorry that Izumi's theory wasn't holding water.

"But the most convincing evidence of my innocence," she stopped before him and stared head into his eyes, "is that I'm _still here_. Why would I escape to kill my father only to come back to rot in this _tiny_ ," she grabbed one bar with a soft metallic clang, " _little_ ," her other hand snatched another bar, " _prison cell_."

He studied her carefully, this clever woman that hid so many lies and secrets, plots and subterfuge, behind her blank face. Zuko told him once that no one, not even Ozai, could be as ruthlessly cunning as his sister.

She was a master manipulator with far too much talent, an unhealthy ego, and a streak of madness that made her infinitely dangerous. When she was put-together, she was like lightning—quick, precise, and lethal. Unhinged, she was a raging wildfire.

"I'm doubling your guard," he told her quietly. Her expression didn't change.

"If it'll help you sleep better, be my guest." Her head titled to the side as she analyzed his haggard features. "You haven't been resting enough in my brother's absence. You'll need your strength to keep things under control until he returns," she advised him lightly, as though she were truly just his Auntie Azula, fretting over his health. "But I wouldn't worry. I'm sure he's already racing home to relieve you."

Izumi gave her a sarcastic smile. "My father will return when he finds my sister. Until then, I am sure I will be just fine. If he could handle being Firelord as a teenager, I'm sure I can handle it now."

Something flashed in her calculating eyes, something he did not like. Somehow, it felt like he had told her a great secret he should not have. His gut churned a little.

"Well then," she said in that velvety voice that sent shivers down his spine, "you'd better be on your way. You'll be very busy." She turned and sat back on her bed, folding her hands in her lap in the picture of serenity.

As Izumi left to inform the guards of their increased watch, she called after him.

"Please come and visit again, little nephew."


End file.
